Early the next morning, Zhu Zhen rode the Great Sage Pingtian, who had not been seen for a long time, out of Donghua Gate and came to Liu Junshi Bridge.
As soon as they arrived at the gate of Uncle Chengyi's residence, they saw Liu Li and Liu Xiang playing shuttlecock there.
In the Mengchun season, the spring clothes are light and thin, and the girl's lake-green skirt flutters like a lake of green water. From time to time, a white and tender calf is exposed, as graceful as the white swan in the lake.
Zhu Zhen was stunned. She felt like she had grown up again.
"Uncle Junior, you are finally back."
It wasn't until Liu Li saw him and came up to him happily that Zhu Zhen came back to his senses, smiled and asked:
"Yeah, did you miss me?"
"What do you think?"
"That's just what I thought about." Zhu Zhen said.
"You didn't guess." Liu Li chuckled.
"Really?" Zhu Zhen then pulled out a golden hairpin embedded with rubies as if by magic.
This was one of several gifts given to his mother and concubines by the queen of Goryeo, but he kept one of them.
"Of course I'm joking." Liu Li's dark eyes smiled like a pair of crescent moons. "If you don't believe me, just ask Liu Xiang. He talks about my uncle every day."
"Humph, you are bribed too easily!" Liu Xiang was very disdainful. Why is this sister not like him at all?
Then he saw Zhu Zhen showing off a sandalwood bow, a specialty of North Korea.
The Korean peninsula has produced good bows since ancient times. "Book of the Later Han Dynasty: Dongyi Biography" says that "Lelang, Tan bow came from this place." Lelang was one of the four counties established by the Han Dynasty in Korea.
Korean horn bows and blade arrows are different from China and Japan. The horn bow has good elasticity and has a long range. The blade arrow has a short body and is very light but has a long range.
Liu Xiang swallowed immediately, then pushed the girl towards Zhu Zhen and said, "Put the hairpin in her head."
Zhu Zhen happily handed the bow to the sensible Liu Xiang. When he wanted to insert the gold hairpin into Liu Li's temple, the little girl blushed, grabbed the hairpin and ran in.
"Alas..." Zhu Zhen shook his head helplessly and followed in with his hands behind his back.
~~
Entering Uncle Chengyi's house, Liu Li was nowhere to be seen.
Zhu Zhen had no choice but to go to the master's study first. Without knocking, he pushed it open and went in.
Inside the room, Liu Ji and Liu Lian were talking, which shocked him.
"You brat, are you going to scare me to death as a teacher?!" Liu Ji blew his beard and glared.
"Hey, teacher, can I give you a surprise?" Zhu Zhen was not afraid of him at all, and Lao Liu expected to teach him more things.
"The shock is enough." Liu Ji said angrily: "You came back from Goryeo so soon?"
"What fun is there in that poor place?" Zhu Zhen put a huge Korean ginseng and a yew crutch on the table and curled his lips and said, "My brother and the others are the only ones who enjoy it."
"Haha, who told you to be useless?" Liu Ji understood instantly and laughed so hard.
"Oh, you are disrespectful to me." Zhu Zhen complained, and then greeted Liu Lian: "Brother, what are you talking about?"
"Your Majesty, it's nothing." Liu Lian smiled and said warmly: "Your Majesty appointed me as the Chief Secretary of Jiangxi Province to participate in political affairs."
"How many grades?" Zhu Zhen asked with a wink.
"It's from the third grade." Liu Lian replied softly.
"Good thing!" Zhu Zhen cheered: "Have you been promoted to seven or eight levels in a row?"
"Because of the empty seal case, a large number of local officials are vacant, so this kind of surprise promotion is very common now." Liu Lian said. Well, it has nothing to do with him being Liu Bowen's son.
"This is called opportunity." Zhu Zhen said with a smile: "I really envy my senior brother. Unlike me, I will never be able to make progress in this life."
"Your Highness, you are already a prince, how can you make progress?" Liu Lian was speechless.
"The only way is to become the emperor." Liu Bowen sneered.
"Master, don't talk nonsense, I don't have any such thoughts at all." Zhu Zhen quickly waved his hand to deny it.
Liu Bowen snorted and didn't answer any more.
"When will senior brother take office?" Zhu Zhen also quickly changed the subject.
"Of course the officials' intention is that the sooner the better." Liu Lian smiled bitterly and said, "But my father hasn't agreed to let me go."
"Why?" Zhu Zhen asked.
"Why?" Liu Bowen said coldly: "It's obviously a fire pit, but you still jump into it?"
"Why is it called a fire pit?" Zhu Zhen asked.
"The Emperor wants to pilot two things in Jiangxi. One is the 'Memorandum Law' that you proposed in my name. This should be a matter under the Chief Envoy's control and has nothing to do with Liu Lian." Liu Bowen said solemnly:
"But another thing is that Liu Lian's errand to clear his father-in-law's land is gone!"
"Is my father going to compile a pornography book?" Zhu Zhen said with a solemn expression.
"Well, while you were away from Beijing, the Emperor secretly visited me once." Liu Bowen said calmly:
"He said that the Kongyin case hurt him a lot and made him no longer trust the officials in the world. Of course, he just listened to this, because he had never believed them."
"That's true..." Zhu Zhen was unable to refute.
"He also said that the reason why local and household departments are so rampant in accounting is because the court does not have an accurate number of acres. Therefore, the court does not know how much tax should be collected every year, and neither do the people. They can only
Let the government talk nonsense!
"If the imperial court could grasp the number of acres of land owned by each household, it would be clear at a glance how much tax should be collected every year. How would there be any room for corrupt officials to cause trouble?" Liu Bowen continued:
"So your father has made up his mind to clear out the land all over the country!"
"This is a long-term plan." Zhu Zhen said: "Every dynasty has done it since the founding of the country. If it is not done well, the country will not last long."
"Do you still need to teach me?" Liu Bowen rolled his eyes at him and said, "clearing the land is good for the country and the people. I know this? But what about local officials and landlords?"
"There are definitely no benefits, only disadvantages." Zhu Zhen said: "After the land is cleared, the government has less chance to profit from it. The landowners can't hide the land anymore, and they have to pay a lot more taxes, so they must be very resistant."
"Do you understand? Boss?" Liu Bowen glared at Liu Lian and said, "You are worse than a child!"
"Of course I am not as good as Your Highness." Liu Lian said sarcastically.
"And I'm telling you, Your Majesty is going to be ruthless this time!" Liu Ji said sternly: "It won't be as conciliatory and compromise as it was in the past, and it's not painful or itchy.
"He plans to ban government officials from going to the countryside to collect taxes after the Yellow Book is compiled! Moreover, there is no need for government officials to even deliver taxes and grain!"
"Ah?" Liu Lian said in shock: "How is this possible? There is no need for the government to collect taxes?"
"Fuck..." Zhu Zhen was also very surprised. The old thief really dared to be the first in the world!
"How is it impossible?" Liu Ji explained: "The emperor plans to break the traditional concept of townships after the clearing of the throne, organize ten families into a family, and select a head of the family to manage it. One hundred families are exactly ten
