In Yangzhou Prefecture, Yuan Feng was already ready. He, Li Mingying and others immediately returned to the northwest to prepare for the war starting from the Zhou Dynasty.
The troops of the Military Command Department still stayed in the Central Plains, under the command of Ye Tang, to collect intelligence, incite people's support, etc. The Military Command Department was good at doing this.
Yuan Feng specially told one thing. In Yuetang Village, Zhenzhou County, Yangzhou Prefecture, there was a barefoot doctor named Wang Huaizhong who was kind to him and took special care of his family. Ye Tang naturally kept it in his heart.
After arranging all the necessary matters, Yuan Feng and Li Mingying, escorted by eight soldiers, headed straight to the northwest with brightly dressed and angry horses. They were wearing the official uniforms of the Jinyiwei. Now Tiqi are all over the world, pretending to be the Jinyiwei.
The best disguise.
They traveled all the way under starry night and stayed overnight at dawn. All the passes they visited were strictly checked, especially the business travelers traveling westward. They were inspected very carefully. The officers and soldiers took advantage of the opportunity to make a fortune, and the merchants complained. However, Yuanfeng and his party did not encounter any trouble.
Those petty officials had no time to fawn over Jin Yiwei's official uniform, so they dared to inspect it.
In an inn, Yuan Feng was lying on the bed fully clothed. The candle beside the bed flickered, reflecting the investigation report of the Military Command Department in his hand. The thick volume contained the impressions of the Central Plains gentry, workers and peasants on the former Emperor Wu.
What shocked Yuan Feng was that the people in the Central Plains had an extremely bad impression of his father. In this investigation report, Emperor Wu was described as a luxurious, greedy tyrant.
He had a harem of three thousand people, but he was still not satisfied. He went to the south of the Yangtze River three times to look for flowers and willows, and he ruined countless beauties among the people, so that the common people became pale after hearing his name.
He was so happy about his success that he recruited 100,000 people to dig the Grand Canal from Yangzhou to Yanjing just to go to Yanjing to see the scenery outside the Great Wall. This level of cruelty was even worse than that of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty.
Fortunately, the Grand Canal project had not yet been completed, Emperor Wu died suddenly, and the people were all happy and excited when they heard about it.
He was greedy by nature, and changed the old labor service tax system in an attempt to squeeze out more people's marrow by dividing the labor into their own land, so that the people were displaced and sold their sons and daughters.
In short, in the eyes of the common people, the former Emperor Wu was a monster-like figure who combined the bad deeds of tyrants such as Li Houzhu, Yang Guang and others.
Is this really the case? Yuan Feng couldn't help but think about it for a long time.
From the life of Wang Huaizhong's family in Yuetang Village, Zhenzhou County, Yangzhou Prefecture, it can be seen that the people of the Zhou Dynasty did not live a wealthy life. Yangzhou is still one of the richest and most prosperous places in the world. The people can only eat white rice.
Luxurious.
What I saw and heard in Henan when I came to Beijing was that a grassroots family was ruined, the children became beggars, the landlords dominated the area, bribed the county government and arrested people at will. Is this the life that the people of the Zhou Dynasty should live?
Thinking of this, Yuan Feng sneered. Zhang Shicheng did have some skills, at least he was quite accomplished at fooling the people. Let's see what countermeasures he can take when he uses his own methods to treat others.
…
On the road outside Yuetang Village, a carriage suddenly stopped. The fat boss was carried under a tree by the servants. He unbuttoned his collar and gasped. It looked like he had heat stroke. The housekeeper hurried to the village and grabbed him casually.
One person asked: "Fellow fellow, my master fell ill on the road. Is there a doctor in the village?"
When the villagers saw that he was wearing a silk brocade, clearly a respectable man, they introduced him enthusiastically: "Kouwang Mulezi is the doctor, I will take you there."
The villagers took the housekeeper to the gate of Wang Huaizhong Hospital and shouted inside: "Old Wang, there are patients outside!"
Not long after the meeting, Wang Huaizhong came out carrying a small rattan box. With red eyes, he asked: "Where is the patient?"
So the housekeeper led them to the road outside the village. When Wang Huaizhong saw that he was suffering from heatstroke, he started to rescue him. The housekeeper asked the villager in confusion: "Why do you call him Wang Mulezi?"
The villagers began to show off: "You are a foreigner, don't you know that although this prince has a wife and children, he is a mule and has no seeds of his own?"
The steward asked doubtfully: "How can I say this?"
The villager said: "A few years ago, a father and daughter lived in this village and were taken in by the old Wang family. Although the woman was mute, she was very handsome. She was spotted by Xie Yuanwai's son and insisted on robbing her. Wang Huaizhong went to rescue her.
Instead, he was kicked in the lower body by Master Xie, and his descendants were cut off. Even with his excellent medical skills, he could not save himself. His brother Wang Huaiyi and Master Xie fought hard and injured Master Xie. He died not long after being taken away by the government.
In prison, his sister-in-law took the initiative to adopt the mistress to Wang Huaizhong as her son, and then she also hanged herself."
The housekeeper looked shocked, and the villagers shook their heads and continued: "That mute woman is a very loyal person. In order to repay Wang Huaizhong, she committed herself to marrying him, which is equivalent to being a widow. Gee, I really don't know how this woman endured it.
"
While talking here, the fat boss over there has been rescued. Heat stroke is not a big problem, but he will die if he is not rescued in time. The boss was generous and immediately rewarded Wang Huaizhong with fifty taels of silver. He looked at the fineness of the five coins.
It was an excellent fine silk spindle, but Wang Huaizhong was a little at a loss.
"It's necessary to treat illnesses and save people, but you can't pay so much money," Wang Huaizhong said.
"That means my life is not worth fifty taels of silver? Are you looking down on me?" The fat boss got angry.
"Take it if you are told!" The steward shoved the silver into Wang Huaizhong's arms, and thanked the villager with a tael of silver, and then the carriage drove away.
Wang Huaizhong returned home holding the silver. The three children and the mute aunt were crying together. Wang Huaizhong held the silver and said happily: "Da Ya doesn't have to be a maid anymore, we have money!"
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It turned out that Wang Huaizhong had to sell the eldest girl in order to buy meat, medicine and salt. Now when people come to pick him up, the family is crying. In fact, this is also the fate of rural families. When their daughters grow up to fourteen or fifteen years old, they will get married.
, sooner or later it will lose money, it is better to sell it to a rich family as a maid as soon as possible, maybe the master will take over the house, and life will be easier.
…
In the second hall of the residence of the right prime minister in the capital, Liu Songpo and Yang Feng were seated as guest and host, chatting happily.
Yang Feng has been the county magistrate in Tianchang for several months and has become well-known in the official circles. This time he was transferred to Beijing for another important task. Everyone knows the temper of the Holy Sage. As long as he likes someone, regardless of age,
Regardless of seniority, there are no restrictions on rising to the top. This time Yang Feng comes to Beijing, he is likely to have at least a fourth-grade career waiting for him.
Yang Feng always said that Liu Songpo regarded him as his disciple, and he was the first to visit him after arriving in Beijing. He also brought some local products from Tianchang County. Although they were not valuable, they were close friends. In addition, he seemed to have mentioned casually that these were fellow villagers.
It was forced upon him before he left, so his score in Liu Songpo's heart increased even more.
Yang Feng was a knowledgeable and talented person, and he was also humble and resolute. He was simply the best candidate for Liu Songpo's son-in-law. He wanted to test his future son-in-law's knowledge and asked:
"Now your Majesty is about to start a war against Xiliang. Although Beiyuan has been defeated, its strength is still there. I am afraid that our government will face a situation of fighting from two sides. The finances are tight and the horses have insufficient food and fodder. I wonder if you have any good ideas?"
Yang Feng had already considered this issue. When Liu Songpo asked, he pondered for a moment and said firmly: "There is a way!"
"Tell me and listen."
"Northern Yuan and Xiliang are both powerful enemies, but if we start a war at the same time, it is really unbearable for our country. It is better to first go to the northwest and then to the north, and adopt a delaying strategy against Beiyuan. If necessary, we can even endure the humiliation and bear the burden and paralyze it with money and relatives, while Xiliang
, is a country dominated by Han people, with the same culture and ethnicity, it is even more terrifying. It is a serious concern and must be treated with priority."
"As for money, food and horses, students also have a simple opinion, which is to implement the New Deal, dig canals, and spread the land into acres!"
As soon as these words came out, Liu Songpo was shocked and stood up suddenly, his eyes shining brightly.
Digging canals and spreading the land into acres was the strategy proposed by the former Emperor Wu, and it was also the excuse used by the current emperor to attack him. However, it is undeniable that these two strategies are excellent prescriptions for treating the great Zhou Dynasty.
It couldn't be more appropriate for the patient's stubborn illness.
Eight years ago, it was precisely because Liu Songpo proposed to dig canals and spread the land into acres that he was demoted by the emperor. He was demoted again and again, and was demoted to the bitter cold land of Gansu as a county magistrate. Is it possible that Yang Feng will make the same mistake again today?
"Do you know the consequences of doing this?" Liu Songpo asked in a deep voice.
Yang Feng smiled calmly: "The worst that can happen is leaving this great head in front of the Meridian Gate. Compared to the well-being of the people in the world, sacrificing one or two people is nothing."
Digging the canal would allow food, personnel, and government orders from the south of the Yangtze River to quickly reach the northern part of the empire, blocking the threat of northern nomads from the outside.
Implementing the tax policy of apportioning people into acres and changing the head tax to a tax policy that is mainly based on land and supplemented by population, it offends the interests of some large landowners, but the pressure on the general public has been alleviated, thereby achieving population growth and national strength.
This is a slow process, but it will definitely be effective within ten years.
But, will the emperor adopt this suggestion? The emperor is a very face-conscious person, and his words don’t count. Wouldn’t that be a slap in the face to himself?
As if he knew Liu Songpo's doubts, Yang Feng smiled and said: "Today is different from the past. The country has reached a situation where it must be changed. The student has been a parent official in Tianchang for several months and is very aware of the sufferings of the people. To put it bluntly,
If you are disrespectful and don't innovate, I'm afraid Chen Sheng and Wu Guang will come out."
Liu Songpo was shocked by Yang Feng's outspokenness, but he admired it more. In this young man, he vaguely saw the shadow of his own youth.
The atmosphere became a little tense, and Liu Songpo took the initiative to change the subject: "What do you think about what was mentioned in the last letter?"
What they were talking about was the marriage between Yang Feng and Liu Ying'er. Yang Feng's face immediately turned red and he bowed and said: "The students are not allowed to disobey the parents' orders. The teachers are the students' reborn parents. Everything must be obeyed by the teachers."
that is."
Liu Songpo became happy, stroking his beard and laughing. Mrs. Liu looked at her hairy-footed son-in-law through the bead curtain from behind, and she became more and more comfortable as she looked at him.