Chapter VII. High officials are not born by themselves
Aunt Gongsun did not come to Chang'an alone to celebrate the New Year. Diao Chan also came back, but Cai Yan did not. It is said that she stayed in Hedong to manage the salt field. Not only that, Mrs. Feng from Changping also came, and she also brought Wei
Gongsun Ping, the second son of the general. Regarding this, Gongsun Xun didn't want to say anything more, considering that her father's family were all in Chang'an, and his future daughter-in-law Dong Bai was also in Guanzhong.
And these are just trivial matters. What really worries Gongsun Xun is that he came with Aunt Gongsun at the same time. The so-called exam for the legendary Amway project... Well, the so-called people who came with Aunt Gongsun were a large number of accountants, shopkeepers, and merchants in the Amway system.
Team leader, local senior offline.
Not only that, at the same time, hundreds of young 'scholars' who had studied in Changping also came to Guanzhong. In fact, Mrs. Feng came here on this smooth sailing boat.
In other words, since most of these people are from Youzhou, plus at most people from Yanmen and the two northwest counties of Jizhou, they generally speak with Northern accents. Moreover, in winter, these people do not wear traditional scarves, but instead wear universal
Wearing the Amway Northland Ear Protection Dogskin Hat.
Therefore, there was a saying in Guanzhong, which was called "March is March, Henan is swallowed up in June, canals are being built in September, it is cold in the twelfth lunar month, and the willow trees are green before the new spring, and dog hats are seen all over Chang'an."
"Have you offended someone?" Aunt Gongsun heard this ballad on the way to inspect Du Ling. She found it interesting and called her son directly in the car. "Why is there some irony and humor in the words?
What do you mean by complaining?"
"Mother, you should ask me who else I haven't offended." Gongsun Xun, the general of the Wei who accompanied my mother to Duling in person, came to the side of the car, but he didn't take it seriously. "Some time ago, I used up Wu Dutian's money in Guanzhong.
name, inventory of fields, and collection of taxes. This incident was coupled with the expulsion of Yang Biao and Huangfu Song, and the appointment of Wei Duan to Youzhou. At that time, some people said that General Wei wanted Dong to become the third assistant, and Dong Zhuo was like this
Even though he committed serious crimes, he could still preserve his family. Han Sui and Ma Teng were able to gain promotion to the title in the separatist areas. On the contrary, the people of Guanzhong were exterminated because of such a trivial matter of taxation, and the local famous tribes moved far away because of this. It is really harsh..."
"Are many people killed?" Aunt Gongsun couldn't help but be surprised.
"There are quite a few." Gongsun Xun said thoughtfully. "Many wealthy families know clearly that I have soldiers, but they still cover it up and try to push back... Human nature is like this... In the end, it's all about saving lives.
I killed hundreds of people and wiped out two big families in one incident, which of course caused dissatisfaction. However, these people only saw me killing people in Dutian, but they never thought about the fact that I died fighting Hongnong in Pujin in order to enter Guanzhong.
How many people were there? Even when Li Jue and Guo Bang's troops were reorganizing the Guanxi Army, they killed more than this number. How could I become soft-hearted because of something like this?"
"How many troops do you have here in Guanxi now?" Aunt Gongsun frowned slightly, and then continued to ask.
"Same as in Youzhou, Hedong and Sanfu also formed a field army with 20,000 people...but here there are fewer cavalry and more infantry, mainly Xu Huang, Xu Rong, and Zhang Liao; and then there are checkpoints,
There are three local garrison divisions, totaling 9,000 people. One guards Wuguan, Tongguan, and Huayin; one guards Pujin and Hedong; and the third guards Fufeng, Sanguan, Xiegu, and Fanxukou to face Xiliang and Hanzhong.
"In the end, there are still a thousand tiger troops to guard the Weiyang Palace." Gongsun Xun answered casually. "As for Duan Xuan and Li Meng, there are too many things to do, and I don't have much to deal with. I also want to reassure them. Wait until the spring.
, and then take your time to figure it out.”
"It's okay." Aunt Gongsun opened her mouth and came. "I've calculated it. Over there in Youzhou, you have a population of three million to support 30,000 soldiers. Here..."
"There are also three million here." Gongsun Xun responded with a sneer on his horse. "There are too many wealthy families here in Guanzhong, which have been passed down for hundreds of years. And because of the Qiang chaos, in order to avoid labor and military service, most people are willing to join the wealthy families as servants.
... During this visit to the fields, the registered population of Guanzhong was 600,000, but in fact, one million people were detected in the 800-mile Qinchuan River... In addition to the 600,000 from Hedong, Hongnong, and 7.8 million from Henan,
, and I heard that the number of refugees who returned from Wuguan and dispersed from Guanzhong was about the same, about three million. The people living in Youzhou, the two counties of Jizhou and Daijun, and Shanggu have not yet cultivated their fields. I am afraid that the number is still mostly fictitious. I will pay more attention in the future.
After cleaning it up, there should be enough left."
Aunt Gongsun couldn't help but sigh: "The key is, once the troops are sent out, there will be more than just these 40,000 soldiers. How many auxiliary troops and strong men will be needed to assist the logistics? If it is 60,000, then it will be a real army of 100,000. The army of 100,000 will go out to fight.
, how can we afford to rely solely on tradition? At that time, we will still have to use things like military villages and civilian villages to collect land taxes in disguise, and use commercial monopolies to make money... You let those who have no place to settle
The people of Henan have been relocated in various places, and so many scholars from Changping have come here. Do you still want to imitate the people in Changping and build Mintun? You want me to come here quickly, or do you not want Amway to quickly monopolize the industry and commerce in Sanfu?"
"Yes." Gongsun Xun did not deny it. "This is the so-called troubled world, but if it is not like this, how can it be possible to allocate power to quell the chaos? This is a paradox in itself."
The mother and son were silent for a moment, and for a while, the only sounds that could be heard were the wheels and horses' hooves hitting the ice on the ground, plus the sound of the fat cat snoring in the carriage.
"Actually, mother doesn't need to be too worried." After walking a few more steps and seeing Du Ling in front of him, Gongsun Xunfang forced a smile and said, "Troubled times are also good... Under the handle of the knife, whether it is farming or farming, the people
Regardless of the settlement, the most they can do is make up a nursery rhyme, so what else can they do? On the other hand, Emperor Wu waited until the world was unified before going to conquer the fields, but in the end he still ended up using a knife? Didn’t we discuss it in Taiyuan? At this point, I
I have been taught so many things by you, and it is nonsense to say that I have no intention of changing the current situation. But since I have taken it, I must give it to you... What we, mother and son, can do now is to quickly clear up the troubled times and save so much money.
What a troublesome thing to worry about; one of them wants to take advantage of this opportunity of the world's collapse to clean things up in a grand way... I don't expect it to last forever, but I can still be clear in my heart."
Aunt Gongsun smiled and said no more. The motorcade rumbled forward and soon arrived at Duling.
By the way, Aunt Gongsun came to Duling this time not to visit the mountains and rivers, but to take over the workshop... You must know that Guanzhong, as the capital of the Western Han Dynasty, is the so-called most beautiful area. It has already formed a complete industrial and commercial industry for hundreds of years.
Although the system was destroyed by Wang Mang's rebellion and slowly declined after the Eastern Han Dynasty established its capital in Luoyang, some of the systems were still far higher than other areas of the Han Empire in terms of scale and technical level.
For example, there are more than forty Iron Officials in the world, and the most technologically advanced and largest smelting base in the entire empire is of course Nanyang Iron Official, but what about Nanyang?
The answer is Hedong, Qingzhou and Guanzhong are the three best places.
Jinan is the best because there is demand for mining these days, and Qingzhou not only has a large amount of iron ore, but also provides iron support to Youzhou and Jizhou, so there are a large number of arsenals and smelting bases. And Hedong... The reason why the iron in Hedong is different from that in Hedong
To put it bluntly, who made her belong to Sili?
This is a smelting base set up forcibly out of political and military considerations.
In fact, Qingzhou also has political reasons... The empire is too big, and Hebei has border problems, so there must be a large smelting base and arsenal nearby. Although Qingzhou theoretically belongs to the "Four Hebei States", in fact it is
Partly in the south of the Yellow River, the largest military smelting base was placed here out of the central government's consideration of guarding against regional forces in Hebei.
One more thing to say here, this is actually why the world is in chaos. The two groups of Yellow Turban remnants, Baibo bandits and Taishan bandits, are causing the most trouble, because the people in Qingzhou and Hedong are not short of weapons, not to mention the local arsenals.
In the same way, due to political, historical, and military reasons, the development of industry and commerce, especially industry, in Guanzhong may be second only to Nanyang and Henan, and the scale and development of some civil industries are even the best in the world.
Take Duling in front of you, for example. Duling has the largest pottery production base in the Han Empire, so much so that Dong Zhuo used this as the reason when he moved the capital.
Back in front of us, General Wei and his son arrived outside Duling City. Naturally, the Duling County Magistrate had already brought local officials and people to greet them. What was interesting was that after the ceremony, he raised his hand to introduce these people who were leaving the camp.
Scholars and people are not the three elders of a place or the famous people of the family, but a certain family in the city, how many pottery workshops they have, how many pieces of pottery they can produce every year, and so on.
Gongsun Xun immediately frowned... You must know that this was the first industrial base Gongsun visited after entering Guanzhong, so he left behind many military and political matters in the mansion and accompanied him personally. In order to ensure that he could win,
This time, he specially brought hundreds of white horses to escort him along the way. The Amway shopkeepers and accountants were not conspicuous at all.
In other words, the purpose of planning to use the Amway to annex and monopolize the industry and commerce in Guanzhong should not be known to outsiders. How can it be exposed in public?
Is the county magistrate in front of him too smart, or is it that Du Ji from Hedong knew his mother's purpose of coming to Guanzhong in Hedong, and then informed his hometown in advance?
But Du Bohou is not so stupid!
In fact, not only Gongsun Xun, but also Gongsun's aunt was a little confused, so much so that she didn't get out of the car for a long time.
Just like that, outside the city gate, the motorcade stopped motionless, with white horses surrounding the city gate. However, the mother and son Gongsun Auntie and Gongsun Xun were in the car and on the horse. They were confused and didn't say much for a long time...
...The Duling County magistrate and the local pottery giants were so frightened that they leaned over and did not dare to raise their heads.
But at this moment, Yi Cong, a young man with tied hair riding a white horse next to him, suddenly came to his senses, and then he rode straight forward, passed the leaders Zhang Ji and Pang De, and proudly said to him on the horse: "General, you
I’m afraid they’ve misunderstood everyone in Du Ling... It’s not just them, everyone in Guanzhong, I’m afraid everyone has guessed that the old lady is here to annex Guanzhong Industry and Commerce with the Amway number.”
There was a sound in the car, and Gongsun Xun turned around out of curiosity, only to see that it was Yang Xiu, the son of Yang Biao. He was previously the son of a public official, and was pulled over by Dong Zhuo to serve as an internal guard when he was in Luoyang. He was a hostage with the emperor.
It means that after Gongsun Xun expelled the ministers, he stuffed all the ministers' children into his own righteousness, which also meant that he continued to be half hostage and half talent reserve.
Now that he knew it was this smart man, Gongsun Xun immediately believed him: "Tell me carefully, why is this?"
"Report to General." Yang Xiu explained calmly. "This is a custom in Guanzhong. It originated from the former Han Dynasty. At that time, all the industries in Guanzhong were directly managed by the Shaofu. Even if they were not managed by the Shaofu later, they were still managed by the Shaofu.
Government control. In the Pre-Han Dynasty, there was an open system. Land tax and Ding calculations were returned to the country, and industrial and commercial taxes were attributed to the emperor... But during the Zhongxing Dynasty, when the land was successfully cultivated and the calculation tax increased greatly, the state-owned industries of the Shaofu were abandoned.
Even salt and iron were given to the private sector to avoid competing for profits with the people... Even so, the merchants were powerless, but they could only maintain their operations by taking shelter from the powerful. Today, general, you have put down the three auxiliaries, and you have gone to the fields to clean up the powerful households.
, but the family has a well-established industry, so these Guanzhong merchants and shop owners naturally know who to entrust the property to."
Gongsun Xun has gained a lot of experience.
"I have learned a lot today. It turns out that this monopoly on industry and commerce has been a common practice since the Han Dynasty. It shows that my son has little education." A fat cat jumped out of the carriage, carrying ice slag.
Stretching out on the ground, Aunt Gongsun finally stepped out of the car with a smile, holding Diao Chan's hand beside her. "But who is this guy talking? He is much more agile than Wang Can."
Seeing Aunt Gongsun coming out of the procession, the big officials from Du Ling quickly bowed their heads and saluted again, not daring to look at them. Even the many loyal servants riding white horses also dismounted and bowed their heads... However, while Yang Xiu bowed down, he could not help but steal.
happiness.
"Report to mother." Gongsun Xun, who was said to have little education, didn't take it seriously. He just hurriedly got off his horse to help his own mother and casually introduced him. "This is Yang Xiu, the son of Yang Biao, Yang Wenxian, the doctor of Guanglu... and Ma Chao,
Fazheng, Meng Da, and Wang Can are all about the same age. They all have their hair tied before and after the New Year. They all look around fifteen or sixty-seven."
Aunt Gongsun couldn't help but look at it a few more times, and then nodded slowly: "It turns out he is Yang Biao's son, no wonder he is so knowledgeable... I remember you said Liu Zhang was also in Yi Zhong?"
"Liu Zhang is older and has already been crowned." Gongsun Xun didn't take it seriously. "I assigned tasks according to the strategy of an adult righteous servant, and asked him to go to Yunzhong as an envoy to deliver rewards to Zhang Ze, the prefect of Yunzhong."
Aunt Gongsun laughed for a moment: "Do you still want him to go to the battlefield when he sends a message in the clouds? How will you explain to Liu Yan if he dies?"
"As long as he dies, who should I leave it to?" Gongsun Xun said seriously. "Since you have joined Baima Yicong, you must treat everyone equally. If you really talk about Liu Yan, as long as Liu Fan is here, what does Liu Zhang mean to him?"
Aunt Gongsun didn't take it seriously. After shaking her head slightly, she quickly called everyone in Du Ling in front of the door and invited them inside to discuss.
In other words, since Guanzhong has long had the custom of directly taking shelter of industry and commerce from the highest authority, it would be a lot easier for Aunt Gongsun to go on this trip. It would be superfluous for Gongsun Xun to bring so many loyal followers... In fact, the discussion only lasted about half an hour.
General Wei, mother and son, withdrew from the meeting, leaving the shopkeepers alone to discuss the details with the local big players.
And since the mother and son came out, they couldn't help but follow what Yang Xiu just said about land tax, money calculation, industrial and commercial taxation, and talked about the population tax, property tax, and land tax... In the end, they inevitably got involved in the issue of sharing the land.
This is the only way to deal with the powerful hiding the population and annexing the land.
As for the so-called sharing of land into acres, all the 'oral calculations' in the calculation of money must be folded into the 'zi calculations' and land taxes. In an agricultural society where agricultural production is the mainstay, this will undoubtedly reduce the burden of the poor on a large scale and avoid
Those powerful landowners annexed land while semi-openly throwing tax pressure on the poor.
However, mother and son have long discussed this issue in private... The conclusion is simple:
The first one is that it must be implemented;
The second one is to have the means of consolidating the land first to ensure that the specific land and property distribution can be grasped;
The last one, since even a third auxiliary and the four counties of Hedong need Gongsun Xun to lead Dong Yuwei to conquer the land and forcefully implement it by closing the door of the third auxiliary with a knife, then there are not enough people to implement a policy of the same level as allotment of land.
I am afraid that military and political deterrence will not work either.
And, even so, we still have to consider the infamy that will come after us. Didn’t you see that nursery rhyme after Sanfu’s graduation?
Of course, fortunately, Gongsun Xun is a shameless person. He is never afraid of others' resentment. Since he did not stay in Liaodong at the beginning, how can he care about this today?
Even though tens of thousands of people have left, some things must be done... When the refugees in Yecheng filled the ground, when the yellow turbans in Dongjun were throwing themselves into the river, when Mrs. Guo in Hedong committed suicide, over and over again, he had already understood this truth.
Understood!
"Call Yang Xiu and Fazheng to come in together." In the backyard of the capital pavilion in the city, everyone was bored. Gongsun Xun saw that his mother had already started playing with the cat, but he suddenly remembered something and asked Jia Kui to summon the two of them.
"Greetings to the old lady and meeting to the general!" Although Yang Xiu and Fazheng are both recognized as smart people, they are only fifteen after all. It was a surprise to be suddenly summoned again at this time, especially Yang Xiu, who had been praised a lot before.
, I am even more proud at this time.
"I have something to ask you two." Gongsun Xun sat next to his mother, looked at the two of them and chuckled. "Jia Kui can also listen. Did you hear the songs on the road?"
Jia Kui's expression did not change, while Yang Xiu and Fazheng's expression changed slightly, but they nodded in unison.
"Do you have any ideas?" Gongsun Xun continued to ask with a smile. "Do you think it was me who caused this rumor by being evil to the minister of the DPRK, or was it caused by the disaster caused by the previous visit to the field?"
Young Yang Xiu was speechless for a moment, but Fazheng couldn't wait: "Reporting to the general, I'm afraid it's the disaster caused by Dutian... Because nursery rhymes need to be easily written and spread by the local villagers. Moreover, in the songs,
The whole story is from the perspective of the people in Guanzhong. "March in Henan and June in Yan" refers to the place in Guanzhong. In March, many people from Henan came all of a sudden because of the relocation of the capital. In June, the general asked Dong to enter the pass, and many people from Yan came.
People; as for "September to build canals in the coldest month of the twelfth lunar month", it refers to the work-for-relief that started around the autumn harvest in September, major water conservancy repairs, and then farming the fields in winter. There are many punishments, which is chilling. Needless to say the last two sentences,
It’s just to mock General that you can’t wait to wait for the weather to get warmer, and then you want to collect the profits from Guanzhong’s industry and commerce.”
Gongsun Xun immediately laughed, and just as he was about to speak, Yang Xiu suddenly interrupted and raised his voice: "Report to the general, there is something wrong in what Fazheng said!"
As soon as these words came out, both Gongsun, mother and son were shocked. Fazheng next to him made no secret of it and glared at him in anger.
"Then what do you think it is?" Aunt Gongsun saw it interestingly and took the initiative to ask.
"Return to the old lady." Yang Xiu tried his best to answer. "In my opinion, this rumor has nothing to do with consolidating the fields, expelling the ministers, etc... It is because the local scholars saw countless Changping scholars arriving one after another, and I am afraid that they will not be able to do so."
Yong, then he satirized the general, because the focus of this ballad was the last sentence. The old lady and the general also saw it just now. Everyone had already expected the monopoly and merger of Guanzhong Industry and Commerce, so how could they satirize this matter? Therefore,
The word "dog skin" refers specifically to the scholars who came to Changping School!"
Gongsun Xun and his mother looked at each other, and couldn't help but become serious: "I'm afraid what you said is wrong, right? I had issued a request for talents before, asking the world's talented people to submit themselves to the throne... They didn't come at that time, but now they are here
Are they worried that the Changping scholars will seize their official positions? Isn't it ridiculous?"
"General!" Yang Xiu glanced at Fazheng beside him and bowed his head sincerely to answer. "If you think about it carefully, how many people would bother to commit suicide if their family names were not clean? For example, Fazheng, Meng Da,
The grandfather of the family is known as a celebrity, but he was born in Zhenwei and is not a scholar; the father of the family is a world-famous eunuch..."
Before he could finish speaking, Yang Xiu stopped abruptly because Fazheng had already punched him and knocked him to the ground.
—I am the dividing line between friendship and beauty—
