Around the New Year, greetings and greetings are unavoidable. As the boss of Jingzhou, Li Tai did not have too urgent diplomatic tasks. However, after returning to town, he immediately arranged for envoys to go to Xiangyang and Jiangling to congratulate the New Year.
Although Li Tai was not eager to visit others, many people were eager to see him, especially since he had not stayed in Jingzhou to celebrate the New Year in the past two years. This time he was leading troops away and did not return to the town until the day before New Year's Eve, which made many people
Even if you want to visit, you can't see anyone.
So when the people learned that General Li was staying in the town to celebrate the New Year, in the past few days after the New Year, almost all the gates of the General Manager's Mansion were trampled down, and there was an endless stream of visitors.
The queue reached outside Rangcheng City!
With so many visitors coming, it was naturally difficult for Li Tai to receive them all. Most of them still required Cui Qian, the chief minister, and his staff in the General Manager's Office to receive and entertain these visitors.
So after Cui Qian had a meal of dumplings from Li Tai's house, the next day he was caught up in the busy work of welcoming and delivering people. Because Li Tai was in town to celebrate the New Year this year, the workload of government officials like them increased sharply.
In addition to officials at all levels under Jingzhou, these visitors are also the powerful chiefs in the territory. Some of them from places like Handong, Shannan and other places have come to Jingzhou as early as years ago and have been waiting to meet General Li.
Those who came to visit naturally did not visit empty-handed, and soon all kinds of gifts were piled up in the warehouse of the mansion. And this was not a big deal. As early as the entire twelfth lunar month two years ago, there was an endless stream of people coming to the Governor's Mansion to give gifts.
Moreover, the number and types of gifts are also greater, and the gifts are carried in cars and horses.
Since these gifts were given to General Li personally, it was not convenient for the General Manager's Office to inspect and collect them, so they had to send them all to the inner palace.
Although Lady Miaoyin often pretends to be mature and maintains her position as the head of the house, her limited experience rarely faces and handles human affairs involving such large amounts of money and silk. She has not yet left the court, and her parents will handle the family affairs.
In the years after Li Tai, Li Zhusheng and other family members were also responsible for dealing with people.
Now she followed her husband to Jingzhou, but she had no choice but to accept them all. She was afraid that her husband would be harmed due to her ignorance, so she sealed up all the gifts in the palace and did not allow any family members to open them until her husband returned.
You can then decide whether to accept it or return it.
After Li Tai came back, the young lady carefully reported the matter to her husband. When she said that the gifts had filled more than a dozen empty rooms in the inner palace, Miaoyin was full of worry: "My family has received so many gifts.
Will your husband be investigated for embezzlement?"
Seeing the worried look on this lady's face, Li Tai felt happy. At his level of power, even if he was charged, it would be for a big-time crime such as treason and stealing the country. If he was punished for embezzlement, it would be really humiliating.
What's more, this is not considered corruption at all.
Li Tai checked the gift list and found that those who gave large amounts of gifts were often officials and powerful people from Handong, Shannan and other places.
These places were newly developed, and they all relied on local powerful people to govern them. Moreover, since there was no systematic household registration and land granting, no taxes and labor were collected. However, this does not mean that they had no influence on the Western Wei Dynasty or Li
Tai, the direct superior officer, has no rights or obligations at all.
Just as Li Tai must obey the military dispatch of the Chinese and Foreign Governments, sending these goods to Li Tai is also a manifestation of their obligations. In other words, although they do not need to pay taxes, they also need to pay protection fees. Because this kind of interaction of power and money has no scope.
Formal channels such as rent and taxation can only be carried out through this form of private transfer.
If there is no protection fee, how can Li Tai protect them from the intrusion and oppression of Jiangling or other Xiaoliang vassal kings, as well as Hou Jing's rebellious army?
This in itself is part of the rules of troubled times. Even if the court and the hegemony knew about it, they would not be able to inquire about it. Unless Li Tai imposed excessive taxes and extorted money, causing public resentment to boil over, local order was lost, and rebellion became common.
In the new year, a large number of gifts came to the house, and the government warehouse was almost full for a while, so Li Tai arranged for his nephew Li Zhen to bring Zhao Jingzhi, Yang Yu and other disciples into the house to quickly inventory and store these gifts.
.
It took them several days to make a preliminary inventory of the gifts they had received. The amount of gifts that could be calculated and converted alone reached more than 500,000 pieces of silk, as well as other specialties and pearls and jade of unknown value.
There are hundreds of boxes of gems, etc. in total.
When Li Zhen got this number, he couldn't believe his eyes for a moment. He looked at Li Tai and said with a trembling voice: "It is rumored that people in the south are extravagant, but I didn't expect that such a heavy sum could be accumulated in just one festival."
Goods! Uncle Thirteen, can my family keep this huge sum of money without having to return it?"
Although the Li family in Longxi is also a well-known family with many famous officials and families, the fact that they can receive hundreds of thousands of pieces of silk as a gift during this New Year is still far beyond the understanding of this young man Li Zhen. Could it be that the money and silk between Jiang and Han
They are everywhere, otherwise why would these people rush to bring gifts?
"If it were to be refunded, I don't know how many people would have sleepless nights!"
After hearing this, Li Tai smiled and said, these Handong and Shannan people are not ignorant of the value of money and silk, and these money and silk are what they should give to maintain their dominance in their respective places.
Of course, the money will eventually be distributed to the local people, but this is also the logic of feudal rule.
Although Li Tai is now well-known among Jiang and Han, his influence has not yet reached the level of sinking into the countryside of Luli. Although the people in the east of Han have heard of his reputation, if they pay him taxes in real money, these
People still have a lot of feelings of resistance, so these local strongmen are still needed to maintain local order and extract local money.
Just like some business practices in later generations, although many X family soldiers were charged IQ taxes, they also gained a sense of belonging and honor. The leeks on the opposite side are not as tall and strong as we are, and we have defeated them with casual attacks!
Of course, there are fundamental differences between the two. After all, society is progressing. In feudal society, these burdens were unavoidable for ordinary people. However, many of the commercial behaviors in later generations can be avoided as long as they have a brain and don't just join in the fun.
Hundreds of thousands of bolts of silk may seem like a lot, but if these places can establish a complete household-based land equalization tax system, the income will be much more than this.
However, these places are still far from the time to establish formal administrative rule. If you want to implement it forcefully, you must be prepared to deal with civil unrest, or you must wait patiently for a more suitable time.
In history, the rebellion in Shannan alone has lasted for a long time. Now, under the protection of Li Tai, the Ankang Li family and other local powerful people still stay in place to maintain local order. Although some civil unrest has occurred, they can still
Solve it quickly and prevent it from getting corrupted.
In theory, these gifts belong to Li Tai's private property, but in fact he is just a distributor. Some of his subordinates, who are stationed in various areas and maintain local order, also allocate some of them.
As the cost of raising their respective armies.
At the same time, the Chinese and Foreign Affairs Offices will also lose some. Li Tai is fully responsible for the military affairs in the southeast, which is also a position given by the Overlord. In addition to his own prestige, his deterrence is also inseparable from the authorization of the Taiwanese government. If
If he were not subordinate to the Western Wei Dynasty, his deterrence would be greatly reduced.
In short, if the club wants to develop, everyone must not have too much selfishness. Those who can jump hurdles, those who know how to cut people, and those who know how to violate the gang rules can challenge the rules.
Then it's best to wear a helmet for everything.
So while the New Year's festival atmosphere was still there, Li Tai ordered his generals to bring gifts worth tens of thousands of pieces of silk to Huazhou Bafu via Wuguan, and presented them to the Daxingtai Inner Palace as personal gifts.
Who could not love such a handsome and charming subordinate who can win battles and make money?
In addition to the officials and powerful officials in the country, some surrounding forces also sent envoys to congratulate them on the New Year. The most die-hard one was naturally Liang Wang Xiao Qi, and his old friend Cai Dabao arrived on the morning of the third day of the Lunar New Year, so he calculated the days.
I came here on the morning of the first day of junior high school.
Then came Xiao Yi, the king of eastern Hunan from Jiangling. Wang Gu, who delivered medical books last time, had not left yet, and this time another delegation came. Even Shao, who was wandering in the southeast of Anzhou and in Qichang County of Nanliang
Xiao Lun, the king of the mausoleum, sent envoys to pay New Year's greetings.
Of course, what surprised Li Tai the most was that the general of the universe, Hou Jing, also sent people to Jingzhou to greet him. This really flattered Li Tai. Hou Jing has become such a powerful commander, but he has not forgotten him.