When the emperor received Zhao Hanzhang's excerpt, his blood boiled with excitement. He felt her loyalty and respect, so he passed the excerpt on to the generals and ministers to read it together.
Then let the generals strengthen training, "When the time is right, we can join forces with General Zhao to take back the Northland."
Zhou Chang, who was sitting at the end, waited for a long time and saw that the emperor only talked about recruiting troops and training soldiers. He couldn't help but said: "Your Majesty, the governor of Zhao also mentioned the light corvee and low taxes and the teaching of farming and mulberry farming."
He said: "The letter states that people who know the astronomical phenomena have a premonition that there will be droughts and locust plagues in the next two years. Therefore, water conservancy projects should be built during the slack farming period. In order to prevent the people from suffering from labor, not only should we avoid the busy farming season, but we should also reduce taxes.
To encourage..."
Seeing that the emperor was listening attentively, he continued: "I also know a little about celestial phenomena. The climate in Luoyang has been erratic in the past few years. I am afraid that as Governor Zhao said, a disaster is brewing. Therefore, please follow the instructions of Governor Zhao.
Taxes were reduced and reduced, and labor was levied to repair water conservancy projects."
The ministers looked at each other, and everyone agreed, but the problem is...
"Your Majesty, if taxes are reduced or exempted, the treasury may not be able to maintain its operations, so we might as well start with labor."
The emperor pursed his lips. Now he could only control Yanzhou and Qingzhou. On the other side of Yuzhou, he was just tasked with tax collection. Could Zhao Hanzhang really transport money and grain to him?
At most, it's just some support, which is a drop in the bucket.
However, the taxes in Yanzhou and Qingzhou have been increased step by step by the brothers Gou Xi and Gou Chun. The people have already been overwhelmed. If the taxes are not reduced or reduced, people will be forced to work...
The emperor himself couldn't bear it.
Everyone is waiting for the emperor's decision.
The emperor finally looked at Zhao Zhongyu, "What do Zhao Qing think?"
Zhao Zhongyu:......
He lowered his eyes and thought for a while. Anyway, he had offended the Gou Xi brothers many times, and this time was not enough. So he stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, please reduce or reduce taxes and collect labor."
With the support of the ministers, the emperor finally made up his mind and gritted his teeth and said: "The Ding tax that needs to be paid this autumn will be exempted from 20% for adults and half for half Ding. The taxes that each household needs to pay will be reduced by 20%. Labor and construction will be levied.
Water conservancy.”
Upon hearing this, all the ministers responded in unison.
When taxes were reduced, the revenue of the treasury was reduced. The emperor thought for a while and issued an imperial edict to reduce taxes, and at the same time urged all regions to pay a certain amount of taxes to the court.
He said that you were originally required to pay so much, but now because of tax reductions, I charge half of it.
However, the emperor said so, and he knew that the local government would not be able to hand over the full amount.
Zhao Hanzhang had already expected it. After receiving the imperial edict, he sent the prepared food and money to Yuncheng, along with a letter.
She didn't send much food, but the most important thing was that she gave two carts of money, ahem, new money!
I don’t know if the emperor will be happy to receive her money. I hope he will be happy.
The emperor has not received anything from Zhao Hanzhang, so he doesn't know whether he is happy or not at this time. He just has a headache.
Because he foresees that the taxes collected from other places will not be very large, he still has to increase revenue and reduce expenditure on his own.
The emperor thought for a long time, but he couldn't think of any way to increase revenue except selling officials, so he could only reduce expenditure.
So the emperor, who was trying to save money, first reduced the expenses of the general's palace. He bribed, oh, no, subdued several of Gou Xi's subordinates.
Therefore, he was not only able to quietly replace the people who controlled the treasury with his own people, but also placed his own people among the people who received taxes from various places.
Gou Xi's manpower would not be able to retain enough money and food.
Gou Xi's general's mansion now has more than a thousand servants and maids, and the number of concubines has rapidly increased to more than 20. The number of maids he favors is about to exceed double digits.
When money and food become scarce, his quality of life is immediately affected.
What a joke, his beauty fell in love with a gold hairpin, and he used to wave his hand and say he bought it, but now he waved his hand and said he bought it, and the housekeeper actually told him that there was not much cash in the house and he had to be frugal.
Gou Xi is now inferior to one person and superior to ten thousand people, but he can't even afford a gold hairpin for his concubine?
Gou Xi was furious.
The housekeeper could only kneel down and apologize, but this was not a question of buying a gold hairpin, but buying a gold hairpin, followed closely by pearl hairpins, treasure hairpins and silver hairpins...
Such is the struggle for favor in the back house.
And Gou Xi still wanted to drink. The price of a jar of good wine was no less than the value of a gold hairpin. The housekeeper dared to wrong his concubine, but he did not dare to wrong Gou Xi.
When Gou Xi asked, she found out that the emperor actually controlled the treasury, that he could not get the money, and that even his words in Yanzhou were only half used.
The nerves that had been corroded by alcohol for days were barely sober. Gou Xi felt a sense of crisis and immediately asked: "Where is Gou Chun now?"
The steward quickly said: "Erlangjun is in Qingzhou."
"What about Fu Wen and Wen Ji and others?"
The steward looked confused and said, "General, the two generals naturally lead troops in their respective armies."
After drinking, Gou Xi became even more moody and furious when he heard this, "How could I not know that they are in the army? I asked them what they did in the army and who they had met recently. What about Ming Yu? Let Ming Yu
Come see me!"
After calling Gou Xi, he realized that Ming Yu had run away!
The housekeeper knelt on the ground, lowered his head, and did not dare to speak again.
Gou Xi's eyes widened and he gasped. After a while, he kicked the table away in anger and said with a gloomy face: "Where is Liu Hui? Summon him to see me."
Liu Hui was a lieutenant general under Gou Xi's sect and one of his confidants.
The housekeeper lowered his head in response, bowed and retreated, and quickly went to call Liu Hui.
So not long after, a copy of Zhao Hanzhang's note to the emperor was copied and sent to Gou Xi.
Gou Xi stared closely at the contents of the document, his mood fluctuating. Judging from his knowledge, he knew that what Zhao Hanzhang said was right and that it was also the most beneficial path to the Jin Dynasty.
But... Gou Xi had a headache. He put down the manuscript, waved his hand and said, "Go and heat up a pot of wine."
"yes."
Gou Xi was drinking while re-reading the manuscript, but to complete this move, it would take many years of business, hardship and hard work, and all supplies would go to the army.
Gou Xi frowned, "If we want to defeat the Huns' cavalry, we need ten times the infantry. And we cannot do without cavalry. A qualified cavalry requires at least two horses per person. This is light cavalry. Heavy cavalry needs three."
Horse, how much food does it cost to feed it?"
A year ago, Gou Xi might have had this ambition, but now, he no longer has it.
Liu Hui also slightly raised his eyes to look at the wine bottle in Gou Xi's hand, and sighed in his heart. If the general had seen this letter a year ago, he would have been amazed, and maybe he would have cooperated with Zhao Hanzhang.
But now, he just frowned and worried about money and food.
Liu Hui bent down slightly and asked respectfully: "So what does the general think?"