Tibet

Wei Jiansu said calmly: "My first principle is that if land tax is levied, household tax should not be levied again. This is fair. It is not allowed that people in the city only bear household tax, while farmers have to bear land tax and household tax. Tenants even have to pay land rent. It is too exploitative."

Li Ye walked a few steps with his hands behind his back and said: "Those big landlords who have land live in the city. Don't they escape household tax?"

Wei Jiansu smiled and said: "Your Highness, how many of these big landlords actually pay taxes? Your Highness can use other methods to collect money from them! For example, titles. There were so many honorary officials before that an old farmer selling vegetables was a pillar of the country. It was simply meaningless. Your Highness can modify the title system and divide the titles into smaller ones. A baron can be divided into several levels. Using titles to harvest big landlords is more effective than collecting taxes, isn't it?"

Li Ye nodded and said, "Then what?"

"Then your highness can make some changes to the household tax and reform it internally, such as collecting taxes based on the number of people, and not collecting taxes on underage children. Secondly, reduce taxes. If there are many underage children in the family, you can further reduce taxes or even exempt taxes. This actually encourages having children in disguise."

Li Mi next to him added, "The key is to suppress food prices so that the low-income people with a large population can afford to eat. The court can open official grain shops in various counties to sell coarse grains, old rice and coarse linen, focusing on cheapness. In this way, although the lower-income people have many children, they can still afford to eat."

Wei Jiansu's plan is indeed good. He gave benefits to local governments, and then made the household tax a special tax for the court, and then reduced the household tax. Instead, he encouraged having children by reducing the household tax, which is more effective than directly abolishing the household tax.

Li Ye thought for a moment and said, "What about the tenants? The land is not theirs. Maybe they have to pay both the land tax and the household tax?"

"It's very simple. If you pay the household tax, you don't have to pay the land tax. If you pay the land tax, you don't have to pay the household tax. Let's talk about the tax bill. If the landlord uses the land rent to make trouble, then the government land rent will be uniformly limited. The farmers will naturally choose the official land instead of continuing to rent the landlord's land."

At this point, Wei Jiansu said slowly: "In another ten years, when your highness has completely consolidated his rule, your highness can implement the abolition of slavery step by step. This is the key to the complete prosperity of the Tang Dynasty."

Li Ye said happily: "Please ask Prime Minister Wei to write a complete memorial of what you said today. According to the new plan, we will pilot it again in Bashu for one year, and the tax surcharge can be abolished first."

It's almost March, and according to the plan, Li Ye will lead the army to go to war.

He then appointed his father Li Dai as the chief examiner of the imperial examination, and as before, handed over the power of the regent to the princess Dugu Xinyue.

He led an army of 100,000 to attack Puyang and Hebei. He was to be the commander in chief in this battle to wipe out the vassal states.

After taking Licheng County and Yidu County, Guo Ziyi took advantage of the fact that the Yellow River had not thawed and led an army of 100,000 to cross the Yellow River and occupy Dizhou. The army was mainly stationed in the westernmost county of Dizhou, Luhe County.

At the same time, the Tang army sent a large amount of food and supplies across the Yellow River.

Nearly ten days passed in a flash, and the Yellow River began to thaw.

That morning, a scout rushed from Dezhou. The leading scout was a lieutenant named Xue Wei. He was ordered by Guo Ziyi to investigate the situation in Dezhou.

Half an hour later, the scout arrived in Luhe County. On the top of the city, Guo Ziyi was watching them coming.

Although Guo Ziyi currently occupied Dizhou, merchants from Dezhou revealed that there was no soldier in Dezhou or even Bozhou, which made Guo Ziyi a little confused. He could not see through the strategy of the Wei Bo army. He remembered that the regent had told him a possibility before, that Tian Chengsi might be withdrawn to the north, and the Tang army would fight the Huihe army first, and then they would come to take advantage of the fishermen.

If this is true, then it makes sense that there are no enemy troops stationed in Dezhou and Bozhou, but Guo Ziyi is very cautious. He is worried that this is a strategy of the enemy to lure troops, lead his army to the west, and then cut off his logistical supply in one fell swoop.

However, Guo Ziyi is not in a hurry to attack Tian Chengsi. He has received news that the regent has led 100,000 troops to attack Puzhou.

Soon, Xue Wei was led to the city wall. He took a few steps forward, knelt on one knee and saluted, "Greetings, Marshal!"

"What is the situation in Dezhou?"

"There is indeed no army stationed in Dezhou, everything is normal. We asked the county magistrate of Ande County, and he said that there has never been an army stationed in Dezhou."

"Do you have any brothers left in Dezhou now?" Guo Ziyi asked again.

"There are several brothers. Once the situation changes, they will come to inform immediately."

Guo Ziyi knew the situation in Dezhou. It was the base camp of Yan Zhenqing's fight against An Lushan. The officials and the people were all loyal to the court. Although they were massacred by Shi Siming twice, they still did not surrender. It was a place of loyalty and righteousness.

Ande County was a solid city after Yan Zhenqing's renovation, which was much better than the dilapidated and short Lihe County.

Guo Ziyi immediately ordered the deputy general Ma Lin to lead the army of 10,000 as the vanguard, and he led 90,000 troops and 20,000 camels, driving 200,000 sheep, and marched to Ande County, 150 miles away.

Tian Chengsi certainly knew that 100,000 Tang troops appeared on the north bank of the Yellow River, but at that time Tian Chengsi was dealing with a thorny matter.

Li Na led 15,000 people across the Yellow River to the north, directly entered Bozhou, slaughtered Boping County, and then burned and killed all the way into Jizhou and occupied the big city of Xindu County.

Li Na threatened that if the 10,000 Zibo and Qing troops in the coalition army were not returned to him, he would enter Weizhou and kill people in Weizhou, turning the world upside down and blood flowing like a river.

Tian Chengsi was so powerful that Li Na's army completely disrupted his plan. Tian Chengsi had no choice but to send 3,000 pigs and sheep to stabilize Li Na, and quickly ordered the joint army to march north to Jizhou. He personally led four Ten thousand troops marched into Jizhou, and Li Baochen was notified that 30,000 troops were marching south.

A total of 120,000 troops surrounded Xindu County, preparing to annihilate Li Na.

It was in Xindu County that Tian Chengsi received the news that 100,000 Tang troops had occupied Dezhou.

This made Tian Chengsi really embarrassed. There were no soldiers in Xiangzhou, no soldiers in Bozhou, and no soldiers in Beizhou. Only his hometown Yuancheng in Weizhou still had 10,000 troops stationed, led by his eldest son Tian Wei.

As soon as Guo Ziyi's army arrived in Texas, an intelligence agent came from Yuancheng County, Weizhou and asked to see Guo Ziyi.

Guo Ziyi quickly sent his own soldiers to bring the intelligence spies up.

"My humble position is that of an intelligence agent from Weizhou. I came here to report the situation on the orders of the General Manager Wang. Something very important has happened!"

The intelligence agent took out a piece of intelligence and presented it to Guo Ziyi. The news inside surprised Guo Ziyi. Tian Chengsi's army actually besieged Li Na in Xindu County in Jizhou. Weizhou currently only has 10,000 troops.

Unexpectedly, Li Na not only failed to become Tian Chengsi's subordinate, but also disrupted Hebei. Now is the opportunity!

At this time, another soldier came to report, "Old General, the head of the Cui family in Qinghe County has sent someone to see you."

Guo Ziyi nodded, "Invite him in!"

Guo Ziyi asked the intelligence agent to go down and rest first. Not long after, a scholar man in his forties hurried over.

He bowed and said in salute: "I am Cui Ling. I was born as a Jinshi in the first year of Tianbao. I was originally the governor of Beizhou. I don't want to be a thief and abandoned my official position at home. I am here to see the old general on the order of the head of the family!"

Guo Ziyi nodded, "You are the younger brother of Cui Shijun, the admonishing doctor, right?"

"Exactly! I am his younger brother."

Cui Shijun, the remonstrating official, is Cui Huan, the former prime minister, and the current head of the Cui family is his second brother Cui Ze.

Guo Ziyi took the letter and read it carefully. It turned out that after Li Na's army massacred Boping County, they immediately went north to Beizhou to rob Qinghe County. The Cui family called on 10,000 Qinghe children to go to the city to defend the city. Li Na had no siege weapons, so he They spared Qinghe County and continued north to Jizhou.

Now that there is no soldier in Beizhou, the Cui family is still frightened and begs the Tang army to go north to Beizhou immediately.

Guo Ziyi thought for a moment. Although the regent had given him an order not to act rashly, the situation was changing rapidly and he had to seize this opportunity.

Guo Ziyi immediately divided his troops into three groups and ordered his deputy general Ma Lin to lead an army of 30,000 to attack Weizhou, and his general Wei Ran to lead an army of 10,000 to guard Ande County. He then led an army of 60,000 to attack Beizhou.

At the same time, he sent his men to Puzhou to report the latest situation in Hebei to the regent Li Ye.