With a eucalyptus table and two cups of spiritual tea, Wang Chen and Yu Feihong sat across from each other and talked.
This is a long story to say.
What happened in this deserted mountain temple today is directly related to the current national situation and destiny of Daqian.
During the sixty-year reign of the late emperor, he always followed the policy of advocating culture and suppressing military affairs, and treated scholars very favorably.
In order to take care of scholars, all scholars who have achieved fame can enjoy preferential treatment of land tax and commercial tax.
Scholars, Juren, Gongshi, Jinshi, the higher the fame, the greater the discount!
This is originally good governance, because many scholars come from poor families. They study hard in a poor family and have no food to eat. They have no other livelihood skills. How can they compete with those wealthy children?
Many talented people have been buried because of this!
Such preferential treatment will undoubtedly help these capable scholars.
However, over the past few decades, the gentry class has expanded rapidly.
In order to pay less taxes, a large number of businessmen and farmers put their shops and farmland in the names of scholars.
And there are a lot of hidden households, hidden fields and hidden properties!
As a result, Daqian's annual income was greatly reduced.
During the reign of the Supreme Emperor, the annual income of Da Qian was more than 55 million taels of silver.
When the late emperor passed away.
This number dropped sharply to about 30 million taels.
Nearly half lost!
Daqian has been facing the threat of the Great Xia in the northwest, and last year's border salary expenditure was as high as 8 million taels.
The national treasury is in deficit every year, which is supported by hundreds of years of accumulation.
After Jinshang ascended the throne, he worked hard to govern and decided to attack the gentry class.
An Inventory Division was established for this purpose.
The task of the Inventory Department is to inventory those hidden households, hidden fields and hidden properties, so as to increase the income from land tax and commercial tax.
To make up for the shortfall in the national treasury!
After the Inventory Division was established, its first inventory target was Jinzhou.
Jinzhou's trade is prosperous and the place is wealthy.
If we can open up the situation here, then half of Emperor Qian’s goal will be achieved!
However, what people did not expect was that the Inspection Department sent three troops to Jinzhou one after another. As a result, the two teams were intercepted and killed on the way, resulting in extremely heavy casualties.
When the other group arrived in Jinzhou, it was besieged by the local gentry, and a fierce conflict broke out.
The government and the public were shocked for a moment!
Emperor Qian was furious and ordered the Imperial Guard to investigate the matter thoroughly.
Yu Feihong went south according to the order and soon investigated part of the truth.
The Jinzhou Zhang family, who was deeply involved in the Blood Eucalyptus scandal of the Inventory Department, was first confiscated and exterminated by the Imperial Guard Department.
"The gold, silver, land and shops we extracted from the Zhang family are equivalent to 3,740,000 taels of silver!"
Yu Feihong said: "Daqian's annual income last year was only more than 29 million taels."
Wang Chen was a little speechless.
The wealth of one state and one family actually exceeds one-tenth of a country's total fiscal revenue!
No wonder the current Emperor Qian wants to wield the butcher's knife.
If you don’t kill a few pigs, you won’t be able to get through this year!
However, the Zhang family in Jinzhou is not a simple character. Over the past hundreds of years, there have been more than a dozen Jinshi and hundreds of people who have been elected. They have deep-rooted connections and extensive connections. How can they be killed just by asking someone?
On the way to Beijing, the Imperial Guard escorted the Zhang family members to Beijing, but they were massively attacked by unknown forces.
After a fierce battle, the Imperial Guard suffered hundreds of casualties.
Although dozens of Zhang family members died, all others were robbed.
This was undoubtedly a heavy slap on the faces of the Imperial Guard and Yu Feihong.
As the governor of the Imperial Guard Department, how could Yu Feihong give up and send out arrest documents and reward orders to apprehend the remnants of the Zhang family, while personally leading a team to hunt down and kill the green forest heroes who had kidnapped the prisoners.
Linjiang hero Xiao Wentian, who was shot dead by the divine machine crossbow before, is one of the targets!
As for the two masters and servants who were taken away just now, Yuchizhong is a retainer of the Zhang family, and the young man in brocade is the direct grandson of the eldest family member.
They apparently fled here to join Xiao Wentian, but they didn't expect the Imperial Guard to follow them.
Catch them all in one go!
"Now Jinzhou has turned into a boiling pot of chaos."
Yu Feihong took a sip of the spiritual tea, and a cold sneer curled up at the corner of his lips: "A group of scholars are so passionate that they wrote a letter in blood asking the emperor to chop off my head."
"hehe."
"The emperor is also under great pressure now."
The Zhang family is actually nothing, it can't hold up to the local tyrants.
However, the Zhang family has a very close relationship with the White Deer Academy and is one of the important members of the "Deer Party".
The Deer Party has great power in both the government and the opposition. At least one-third of the officials at that time were from the White Deer Academy. The current Emperor Qian bypassed the cabinet and established an investigation department, which undoubtedly greatly affected the interests of the Deer Party.
The overt and covert struggles and the flash of swords behind this cannot be explained clearly in a few words!
"Master Wangxian..."
Yu Feihong said to Wang Chen sincerely: "As far as I know, Bailu Academy has always been hostile to Yunyang Immortal Sect and believes that the Tianshi Mansion should be abolished."
"Ruan Zhaoming, the governor of Nanshao County, is a member of the Deer Party, and the position of Tianshi, the governor of Nanshao, has been vacant for three years. I am afraid that people in Tianshi's Mansion have had different ideas, and you have to guard against it!"
Wang Chen nodded: "I understand."
Yu Feihong’s words are credible.
But I can't believe it all.
As for what the people in the Tianshi Mansion have different intentions.
He didn't care at all.
Wang Chen ran away from home this time mainly to avoid the turmoil of the Yunyang Sect.
He just wants to live in peace and quiet for a while.
Whoever makes him unhappy will definitely make Wang Chen regret it!
Seeing Wang Chen, he was indifferent.
Yu Feihong sighed secretly.
Immortal masters from the Immortal Sect are aloof and have no regard for the fireworks of the world, and they do not understand the dangers of the human heart.
Although the Immortal Master is powerful, he is not invincible.
As far as he knew, an innate warrior had successfully attacked and killed an immortal master before!
The mortal world is a miraculous place that cultivators hate, and ordinary cultivators are simply unwilling to stay there.
If Wang Chen died in Nanshao, the Yunyang Sect would certainly be furious, but it would be unlikely to go to war.
But the Imperial Guard will definitely be in trouble!
After thinking about it, Yu Feihong pointed to the woman waiting beside him and said: "Master Wang Xian, you are going to Nanshao alone. You may have some inconvenience in your life, so let Xiaowan accompany you and serve you."
"Xiao Wan is from our Imperial Guard Department, so I promise to be loyal and reliable."
"And she has acquired the peak martial arts skills, so she will not be a burden to you."
"In addition, Xiaowan understands Nan Shao's situation. If you have any trivial matters in the future, you can feel free to leave them to her!"
Yu Feihong moved his tongue like a yellow and really moved Wang Chen's heart.
At first he refused.
If a person is alone and carefree, and there are many people around him, there will always be trouble.
But what Yu Feihong said makes sense.
Wang Chen came to Nanshao with a mission to guard the Celestial Master, and it was impossible for him to ignore the affairs within his duties after taking office.
It would be much more convenient to have an assistant.
He can completely instruct the other party to handle some things.
When it comes time to solve the problem yourself, I don’t know how much time you can save!
Although Yu Feihong’s suggestion is suspected of being sugar-coated.
But Wang Chen smiled and said: "Good!"——
This is the first update. I have something to do at home today, so please forgive me for the late update. There will be updates later.