Zhong Changtong tidied up his clothes and rushed to the palace early. Under the leadership of several Huangmen, he came to the Houde Hall. The Huangmen reported that Zhong Changtong walked into the Houde Hall and walked in. In the main hall, when he raised his head, he saw the emperor sitting on a chair with anger on his face. Zhong Changtong respectfully bowed to the emperor, "Greetings to the emperor!"
Liu Xi did not let him get up, but looked at him coldly, and then said: "You came very quickly. Normally, when ministers enter the palace, they come to see you the next day. It has only been more than ten days for you." , came to see me, not bad, not bad."
Zhong Changtong was not afraid, he raised his head, grinned, and said: "Aren't I afraid that I will affect His Majesty's good mood? I know His Majesty will be annoyed when he sees me, so I don't dare to come to see you... "
"Ha..." Liu Xi snorted coldly, "You can see it clearly. So, I have to find a way for you to go to Ningzhou or Jiaozhou. It's best not to see you in this life. Come, you'll be in a good mood, don't you think?"
"Farewell, Your Majesty, among the ministers in the East Palace, only the ministers are the worst. Zhuge Kongming has served as the third commander. The rest of the ministers are not servants, but also serve as state shepherds. I am the only one who has been the prefect for six years. ...I ranked first in political performance every year, and I never got a promotion...I got rid of the governor, got rid of the state pastor, and even the county magistrate under my command was taken away by me..."
Hearing Zhong Changtong's complaint, Liu Xi laughed and waved his hand, "Get up and sit down!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Zhong Changtong bowed again and then sat in front of Liu Xi.
Liu Xi looked at him and said with emotion: "Back then, when you followed me, you were just a young boy, the youngest among everyone. Now, you have grown up. How about it? Do you have a family? "
"If there are daughters in the family, they all go to the state shepherd servant She to get married. How can I, a little governor, get married?" Zhong Changtong whispered, and Liu Xi laughed, "Are you blaming me for not using you more?"
"I don't dare!!"
"Why have I been reluctant to let you come to Luoyang and enter the core of the temple for so many years? It's not because of your temperament. If you don't believe in ghosts and gods yourself, then don't believe it. Why do you need everyone in the world to be like you? So, why don’t you believe in ghosts and gods? How much trouble have you caused me in these days? Ah? I just gave you the position of worshiping the servant of the government, but you almost demolished the Zhonglie Hall in Luoyang!!"
"Let me ask you, if you continue to be in office, do you want to demolish the altar of worship to heaven on Mount Tai?"
Liu Xi frowned and asked angrily.
Zhong Changtong was a little scared at this moment. He and the emperor had not seen each other for a long time. He really didn't expect that the emperor had changed so drastically. This is really moody. One moment he was smiling and asking himself whether he would get married, and the next moment he was angry. He asked questions hurriedly, as if he would be dragged out and beheaded if he answered incorrectly. Zhong Changtong looked bitter and said hurriedly: "I don't dare."
"Don't you dare?? Haha..." Liu Xi sneered, looked at the frightened Zhong Changtong in front of him, calmed down, and continued: "Zhengyi, you are my confidant, when I was still the prince, You have followed me. I am determined to reuse you, but you have to promise me that you will not behave like this again. After you take office, the documents of impeachment against you will flood the Houde Hall..."
"This time, I will give you another chance. The Hufu will be given to you. The Hufu is the most important thing in the temple. You can take care of the Hufu with peace of mind. If you don't understand anything, you can go to Shangshu Ling to ask. If you want to do it again,
If you cause trouble, don't blame me for being ruthless..."
"Your Majesty...if I make a mistake, will you kill me?" Zhong Changtong asked cautiously.
"Oh, that's not the case. I will cut off your hair, make you a monk, and worship the Fu Nian Sutra all day long."
Zhong Changtong's eyes suddenly widened, "I will definitely not make any mistakes again!!"
"Okay...get up!" Liu Xi said and asked about some things about Liangzhou, especially about Zhangye. Zhong Changtong proudly talked about Zhangye. Zhangye was originally just Liangzhou.
A poor and inconspicuous county in the state, under the careful management of Zhong Changtong, showed an alarming upward trend in taxes every year, and the emperor was also quite curious about it.
"Your Majesty, you don't know that there is too little arable land in Zhangye. All the land that can be cultivated has been occupied by powerful families. Most of the people have become tenants under others. There is no land, and the land belongs to others. Therefore, this
The grain production is very low. Your Majesty may not know that these people value land very much. Without land, it will definitely be a huge blow to the people..."
When Zhong Changtong talked about the land issue, Liu Xi immediately became serious. The emperor now wants to implement the land equalization system, and this is what he has in mind. The rich and powerful families are constantly annexing the people's land, making the people's land increasingly scarce.
, in the end, the land that Emperor Xiaokang led the people to cultivate through hard work returned to the hands of the powerful, but the people still had no land.
Liu Xi wanted to break this cycle, and he wanted people all over the world to keep their farmland.
Therefore, when he heard Zhong Changtong talk about this issue in Liangzhou, he seemed to be very concerned about it.
"At that time, I was thinking about how to solve this problem. Your Majesty, please don't blame me. In Liangzhou, they don't dare to provoke me, especially in Zhangye. I can do many things as I please.
Bypassing Zhou Mu, they are all afraid of me and think that I am a monster, but this also gives me an opportunity to show off my talents..."
"Haha, they didn't think wrong." Liu Xi said sarcastically, and then asked: "Then how did you do it?"
"I thought at that time, isn't the problem just with the land? I just want the powerful people to spit out the land. So, at the beginning, I killed a lot of powerful people and took their land away from them.
The cultivated land is distributed to the people..." Zhong Changtong said, but Liu Xi shook his head with disdain, "This has no effect."
Zhong Changtong was shocked and asked: "How did your Majesty know?" Liu Xi smiled and did not answer. Zhong Changtong then said: "It is indeed useless. I killed a group of powerful people, but the rest are still the same."
Will continue to annex, and those common people, after owning land, some will become new tyrants. This is inevitable, so I failed..."
"After that, I was thinking about what method should be used to prevent powerful people from annexing the people's cultivated land. I had an idea at that time and ordered... Let everyone continue to cultivate and cultivate more cultivated land...
."
"Oh, it's a pity that this also failed. Zhangye is like that, not much land can be reclaimed. I have no choice but to do it. Fortunately, a talented person came here at this time. Your Majesty may also know that he is the disciple of Jia Xu Jia Gong. The man named Xu Fu is now called Xu Shu. He made a suggestion to the minister, and the minister ordered that all the cultivated land in Zhangye should be owned by the prefecture and should not be sold off! He also divided the powerful land equally among the local people..."
Liu Xi's face was moved, his eyes widened, and he suddenly looked at Zhong Changtong, "What did you say?"
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty... I just want to solve the problem, not to occupy the land..." Zhong Changtong hurriedly explained, but Liu Xi didn't pay attention to his explanation and asked directly: "What's the result? How is the situation? Is this why Zhangye is so prosperous now??”
"Alas, Your Majesty, I am still wrong."
"No!! How could it be wrong?!"
Zhong Changtong looked at the emperor with some doubts, and then said: "Your Majesty, I am really wrong. After I gave the order, all the people scolded me behind my back, and the state pastor almost wanted to impeach me. So forget it. After that, the common people completely lost their enthusiasm for farming. They felt that they had become tenants, farming for temples and farming for powerful men. There seemed to be no difference..."
"How can there be no difference?? Although the land belongs to the temple, the right to use it is in their hands. They can farm as they like, and all the harvest is theirs!"
"How could you, a foolish countryman, know this? Your Majesty, the farmers refused to farm, and the large planting area that had been formed by the powerful gatherings came to a halt. Zhangye suffered a devastating blow... I said at that time I want to beat that thief Xu Shu out!!"
"In the end, I thought about it and stopped clinging to the land. The number of people that cultivated land can accommodate is limited, but trade can accommodate it. So I opened the door to commerce, reduced business taxes, and encouraged merchants. When you go out to do business...there is no longer a curfew...for a time, all industries prospered, and Zhangye has just reached its current situation..." Zhong Changtong said proudly.
Liu Xi, who was in front of him, had a confused look on his face at the moment. He frowned, gritted his teeth, and his hands seemed to be trembling slightly. Seeing the emperor's silence, Zhong Changtong was stunned for a moment, and then asked : "Your Majesty? You're fine??"
Liu Xi suddenly raised his head and stared at Zhong Changtong in front of him, making Zhong Changtong's back feel cold.
"Who sent you?"
"Your Majesty...didn't you ask me to come here?"
"Hahaha, really?" Liu Xi sneered, the murderous intent in his eyes getting stronger. Zhong Changtong was frightened and frightened, and hurriedly bowed to him, "I don't know what I said wrongly. Please deal with it. I will execute you." Okay, I just beg Your Majesty not to let me become a monk..."
"Hahaha!" Suddenly he heard a loud laugh. Zhong Changtong slowly raised his head and glanced at the emperor secretly. The emperor's face was full of smiles, but there was no trace of anger. He smiled and helped Zhong Changtong up. "You don't have to be afraid. I'm just scaring you. It seems that you really don't dare to make mistakes again. Am I that scary? Look at you, your hands are soaked..."
"I don't dare!"
"Get up, get up..." Liu Xi said with a smile, his words were friendly, and he could not see the murderous intention just now. The two of them chatted for a long time, and then Liu Xi said: "Do your job well, and do this well. Servant of the household, please don’t let me down, do you understand?”
"I will definitely live up to His Majesty's high expectations!"
After sending Zhong Changtong away and sitting alone in the Houde Hall, Liu Xi's face gradually darkened.
"Xun Yu..."
ps: Thank you very much to Bai Bai for being the leader of Little Immortal. Thank you Bai Bai for being the fourteenth leader of this book. Hahaha, thank you very much for your support.