The self-proclaimed Qingliu official Liu Bingchuan was afraid that others would say that he had colluded with Li Zhi, a "treacherous minister", and wanted to keep a distance from Li Zhi! Therefore, he did not allow Li Zhi's irrigation canal to pass through his family's fields at any cost.
Hearing Liu Jiaren accuse him of being a traitor, Li Zhi felt very unhappy. In the past, Li Zhi had only heard people say that Wen Tiren was a traitor, but he never expected that one day he would be pointed at and called a traitor.
Li Zhi said coldly: "Is it a traitor to impose commercial taxes? Farmers work hard and have to pay land tax, why can't businessmen pay commercial taxes?"
When Liu Jianshen heard Li Zhi's words, he excitedly raised his cane and said: "Collecting commercial taxes is to rob the people of their interests and compete with them for wealth! It shows the disaster of the tax inspectors during the emperor's time, and everyone in the world will oppose it!"
Li Zhi said: "There are wars all over the world. The country has no military pay to support its troops and is about to go bankrupt. If we continue to impose land taxes, the peasants will starve to death and rebel. In this case, why can't the business gentry give away a little profit? Just sit back and watch the country's difficulties without making any efforts.
, this is the real traitor!"
Liu Jianshen couldn't defeat Li Zhi, so he coughed violently and cursed loudly: "The traitor is arrogant! If I don't want to argue with you, please leave my house quickly!"
Li Zhi asked: "What about the irrigation canal?"
Liu Jianshen waved his sleeves and said, "No need to talk!"
Li Zhi lost his temper and said coldly: "Don't be too self-righteous!"
Liu Jianshen snorted coldly, as if he didn't take Li Zhi's warning seriously.
After leaving the Liu family's house, Zheng Hui asked: "Sir, what should we do if the Liu family takes the lead and refuses to build irrigation canals for us?"
Li Zhi said: "Take people to repair it! Wherever the canal needs to be repaired, it will be dug. He is a small patrol censor, what are you afraid of him doing?"
Zheng Hui asked: "What if the Liu family says we have taken private land?"
Li Zhi said: "What are you afraid of? If the sky falls, I will hold it up!"
The next day, Zheng Hui organized farmers to build irrigation canals on the Liu family's fields. When the Liu family saw this, they were furious. After Li Zhi's men dug for three days, the Liu family took action. Dozens of Liu family members
The servant was furious and rushed forward with a wooden stick in his hand.
"Who dares to dig a ditch on Liu's private land?"
“Kill you sharecroppers who farm for traitors!”
"Dare you dig up the Liu family's fields?"
The people who built the irrigation canals were all farmers. Without weapons, they could not stand up to these tall servants of the Liu family. Hundreds of people were beaten up by dozens of servants. Some were beaten until their noses were bruised and their eyes were swollen, and some were beaten until they were bleeding and injured.
Yes, they scattered and fled. Zheng Hui was originally on the scene to direct the construction of the canal, but when he saw the Liu family's servants coming, he could only run away.
Returning to Fanjiazhuang the next day, Zheng Hui told Li Zhi about the beating in Jinghai County.
When Li Zhi heard this, he was furious and secretly thought that the Liu family was not afraid of him at all. Didn't he know that he had a strong army? He built a canal on his land and only occupied more than 20 acres of land. He actually
Fighting like this! Could it be that in the eyes of the Liu family, I was really a sworn traitor?
Is he so eager to cut ties with himself?
If the Liu family does not give up their land, and other Jin gentry follow suit, their new land reclamation will be empty talk. The second batch of 10,000 tenant farmers has been hired, and it is impossible for Li Zhi to stop the new land reclamation now. Now Li Zhi is riding a tiger and is unable to get off.
I can only fight with the Liu family.
Li Zhi snorted coldly and was about to call Zhong Feng to lead his troops to the Liu family, but he heard the servant at the door running in quickly and shouting: "Master, the governor is here!"
Li Zhi was stunned, secretly wondering why Denbei was here at this time, but he saw the Tianjin governor walking into the second hall with an anxious face, and said to himself: "How did General Longhu rob the private land of the Jin gentry?"
Li Zhi did not expect that the Liu family could mobilize the governor to speak for them. He was stunned, looked at Cha Denbei up and down, and secretly thought that Qingliu was really united when fighting among themselves.
"I want to cultivate 100,000 acres of military land. Every year, I can turn over 12,000 dan of new farmland, which will greatly benefit the country. The irrigation canal of this military field has to pass through the Liu family's private land, so there is no choice but to disturb his private land.
Lift!"
Zha Deng Bei clapped his hands and said: "No matter what, you cannot take away people's private property!" After a pause, Zha Deng Bei said loudly: "If the general acts like this, I am afraid he will be denounced as a traitor by the people in the world! Everyone will hate him!"
Li Zhi sneered and said, "Hasn't he already been denounced as a traitor?"
Cha Dengbei smiled awkwardly and said: "As long as the general stops business taxes and repels the remnants of the eunuchs, the people of the world can still forgive the general!"
Li Zhi said calmly: "Don't talk about 'people of the world' and 'people of the world' all day long. It's nothing more than a group of selfish gentry controlling public opinion. Anyone who moves their interests will kidnap the people of the world and launch an attack together."
A governor named Zhadeng Beitang felt very embarrassed when he was scolded by Li Zhi like this. He said sarcastically: "The general said that Qingliu is a selfish gentry?"
Li Zhi closed his eyes and did not answer this sentence. Instead, he said, "I will definitely build this irrigation canal, and I will definitely collect business taxes. If the Liu family goes against me, it will not end well."
of!"
Chadenbei was choked by Li Zhi and had nothing to say. He shook his head helplessly and said: "General, don't act rashly. If you wait another day, things will definitely turn around!"
Li Zhi looked at Cha Denbei and didn't know what he meant. He nodded and said, "Okay, I'll just wait for one day."
The next day, Li Zhi was waiting curiously at home when a messenger suddenly ran to the door and delivered a letter.
"The Minister of Rites congratulates Shishou and has a letter to give to the General!"
It turns out that the so-called turning point was a letter from He Shishou, who also joined the camp to persuade him to stop? The Liu family has a very wide network. Li Zhi knew that He Shishou had read one of his books some time ago, and he had already broken with him.
Why are you still embarrassed to write a letter to yourself? Li Zhi snorted coldly and opened the letter congratulating Shishou.
"You are a commoner, I thought you were loyal to the country, but I didn't expect you to be full-fledged today and actually associate with you to rob the private land of the Jin gentry. Humans and gods are equally angry and urge you to stop your hands quickly. If you can wake up, people in the world may not
Rebuke him again"
Sure enough, as soon as he opened the letter, there was an old-fashioned scolding text from He Shishou. The central idea was just one sentence, asking Li Zhi not to use the Liu family's land to develop irrigation canals, not to collect commercial taxes, and to quickly turn around and become an official with his tail between his legs according to Qingliu's instructions.
Li Zhi was so angry that he threw the letter congratulating Shishou on the ground and cursed: "These Qingliu people are just sitting around talking. Don't they know that what they are most lacking now is food and money? Without food and money, a country cannot suppress thieves and prevent slaves!"
If we don’t collect business taxes and don’t open new fields, how can we have food and money?”
Zheng Hui said coquettishly: "Sir, even the Minister of Rites has spoken, do we still want to fight with the Liu family?"
Li Zhi paced back and forth in the room for a few steps, secretly thinking that the Liu family's network of connections was really broad, so he couldn't be rude to him, lest Qingliu find a reason to attack him. Originally, Li Zhi was planning to lead his troops directly into the Liu family to arrest people.
He's a scapegoat, but looking at it now, it's best to catch evidence of his corruption and bending the law, so that he has a good reputation.
