Liu Bei is really happy.

Looking at Zhou Xing at this moment, I feel like I am lucky enough to meet a close friend.

But he still has some worries.

"Military advisor, we have reduced taxes and the people have benefited. However, there are many wealthy people with many fields, and many people have no choice but to rely on them. I am afraid that these dependent people will not be able to enjoy the benefits!"

Liu Bei was worried about the powerful and wealthy people. They had a lot of land. The common people rented the land and farmed it, and paid half of the land rent. He reduced the land tax. In fact, he was reducing the land tax for these wealthy people. The people who rented the land and farmed still had to pay the land tax.

If you hand over half of the land rent, you will not enjoy any light tax benefits at all.

However, many ordinary people had to borrow grain from these wealthy people to survive because they were short of grain. They did not even have the means to grow grain. In the end, they had no choice but to sell their fields and change from owner-cultivators to rent-cultivators.

Although the land rent of being a rent farmer is very high, the advantage is that it is easy to borrow money when there is no grain, and you can borrow money if you don’t have to grow grain. Another point is that rich people who are dependent on powerful people can leave their country, and they do not need to pay official taxes or pay taxes to the government.

Corvene.

Moreover, these powerful and wealthy people gathered more tenant farmers, and they could build forts to defend themselves against thieves and bandits, and they could also fight against the government, evade taxes and avoid corvee.

Zheng Xuan of Beihai once went to Donglai to farm because of his poverty.

"My lord, there are a lot of abandoned fields now. We can make it clear that from now on, all the fields that have been abandoned for more than three years will be taken as official property. At the same time, the people are encouraged to open up wasteland and cultivate it. Anyone who reclaims wasteland and cultivates it again will have the land belong to them.

All residents will be exempted from land tax for three years. All residents in the county are required to register their household registration and pay a tax. If it is found that those who have left the country and evaded the tax will have their farmland confiscated."

"In this way, the people can't escape the tax, they can open up wasteland to get fields, and the land tax is light, the people will no longer depend on the rich, and we can also get many registered people. The income from the land tax is less, but the money earned as a tax is

If there are more, it will be easier to recruit soldiers in the future."

How to deal with powerful people is a thorny issue.

We definitely can’t directly confront those powerful people, at least not yet.

The reason why powerful people can become powerful is not only that they have a lot of land, but also that there are too many people who rely on guest farming.

With these people working as guest farmers, they have manpower and power, so they will be feared by the government.

Zhou Xing's idea is that blocking is worse than sparing. He cannot directly prohibit powerful people from attracting the people. He can only work on the people to make them feel that they can't benefit from relying on powerful people, so they might as well submit to the government.

At that time, the reason why the government did not dare to offend the powerful was that a large number of people relied on the powerful. For the common people, relying on the powerful would not make their families have surplus food. But at least when they ran out of food, they could borrow food from the powerful to survive, but they could not borrow food from the government.

Encouraging land reclamation can make great use of the fields and make the fields come alive. The field taxes you may receive now will be less, but in a few years, the food you can receive every year will be considerable.

The most important thing is to have all the people register their household registration, so that they can collect the money for calculating taxes, and it will also be easier to recruit soldiers.

At that time, one soldier was recruited from every ten households. This can be seen from the biography of Man Chong. Man Chong became the prefect of Runan and pacified the disciples and guests of the Yuan family. He gained 20,000 households and 2,000 soldiers.

If the people no longer rely on the powerful, the power of the powerful will be greatly reduced, and it will be much easier to divide them.

Of course, these things are easy to say, but not easy to do, and there will be a lot of resistance.

After Liu Bei heard what Zhou Xing said, he thought for a long time without saying a word.

Zhou Xing understood what Liu Bei was worried about and asked: "My lord, are you worried about powerful people gathering together to resist?"

Liu Bei nodded: "Well, how can a powerful man be willing to watch the people disperse? If he gathers a crowd to resist, I'm afraid Donglai will be in chaos again! If so, I can only kill people!"

Zhou Xing smiled slightly and said: "If you want to kill people, you don't need to do it yourself. It is most suitable for one person to kill the powerful."

"The military advisor is talking about Wang Shuzhi?"

"It is this person. Uncle Zhi is the county magistrate. If anyone dares to gather a crowd to resist, he can come forward and kill him as a warning to all the powerful people in the county."

"Let me think about this matter and discuss it with everyone else someday."

The matters mentioned by Zhou Xing are of great importance. Liu Bei must think carefully and listen to the opinions of Jian Yong, Mi Zhu and others before making a decision.

"By the way, military advisor, I wanted to ask you to come with me to visit someone today, but as I was talking, I forgot."

"Who is my lord going to visit?" Zhou Xing asked in confusion.

Liu Bei said: "Tai Shi Ci's mother, Ziyi, has gone to Yangzhou. Her mother is alone, and I am in Huang County. Although I have sent people to send money and food, I have time now, so I should go and visit. Ziyi is brave, loyal, and witty.

Man, it’s a pity that he is not in Donglai!”

Zhou Xing could see that Liu Bei was a man who recognized talents and admired them. He naturally knew Taishi Ci's abilities and wanted Taishi Ci's assistance.

Now that Taishi Ci has gone to Yangzhou to follow Liu Yao, Liu Bei has given up all hope of getting Taishi Ci and is visiting his mother just to do his best.

"I heard that Yangzhou Shepherd Liu Zhengli was defeated and fled to Yuzhang. I have sent people to Yangzhou to investigate. If there is any news about Taishi Ziyi, I will report to the lord."

"Oh, the military advisor has sent people to Yangzhou? But since Liu Zhengli is in Yangzhou, there is news about Ziyi. I'm afraid he won't come back! Even if he comes back..."

Liu Bei looked quite disappointed.

Zhou Xing knew that Liu Bei thought that even if Taishi Ci came back, he might not leave any help.

"In the past, when Kong Wenju was besieged by Guan Hai, Ziyi went to the plain to ask for help from the lord, and the lord sent troops to help relieve the siege. In this way, the lord was kind to Ziyi. Now the lord is kind to his mother, and Ziyi is a filial mother.

If he comes back in the future, he will be willing to assist the master."

"I hope so!" Liu Bei sighed.

Later, Liu Bei took Zhou Xing, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Huang County Magistrate Wang Xiu to visit Taishi Ci's mother.

Tai Shici was a native of Huang County, Donglai, and his home was more than 20 miles east of Huang County.

Although the big bandits in Donglai have been wiped out, there are still some small bandits. Although Liu Bei is protected by Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, he is accompanied by dozens of soldiers.

As soon as I left the city, I attracted the attention of many passers-by. After walking for more than ten miles, many people were following me from a distance.

These people were dressed as ordinary people and had no weapons in their hands. Liu Bei and others didn't care. They kept walking forward and soon arrived outside Taishi Ci's house.

At this time, there were hundreds of people following behind, including many old people.

After Liu Bei dismounted, he turned around and walked towards the people who were following him. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei quickly followed behind him, holding the handles of their swords. Zhou Xing and Wang Xiu also followed.

Zhou Xing guessed why these people came. This was the first time they saw Liu Bei, but it was certainly not the first time they heard Liu Bei's name.

"Mr. Liu Fu! Mr. Liu Fu!"

Seeing Liu Bei approaching, the people suddenly knelt down and shouted.

Liu Bei hurried forward to greet him, helped up the old man who was kneeling in front, and said to everyone: "Everyone, get up quickly!"

"Mr. Liu Fu, once you come to Donglai, we will be saved!"
Chapter completed!