Gao Wu Da Xia: The fox demon lady at the beginning

Chapter 120: Countermeasures against thieves

Facing Emperor Yingxuan's inquiry, Han Chufan thought seriously.

The biggest difficulty in suppressing thieves in Great Summer is that thieves are like weeds, growing again with the spring breeze.

After Wang Liu is wiped out, Sun Wu will appear again tomorrow.

The fundamental reason is that successive years of severe drought, coupled with the continuous increase in taxes imposed by the Great Xia court, have made life increasingly difficult for the common people.

More and more people are fleeing famine in various states.

The output of farming is getting lower and lower, and they have to face high taxes. Many poor people choose to flee famine.

Most of these victims who fled the famine starved to death. After the grass roots and tree bark were eaten up, tragedies of exchanging food for food often occurred.

Rather than starve to death, many people chose to become rebels and fight to the death.

When civilians cannot survive, all morals and laws will be ruthlessly trampled by them.

As for Daxia's continuous increase in taxes, it was also a helpless move.

There is a war with the Wu Clan in the north, troops are stationed in the south to defend against the demon clan, and the Buddhist countries in the west are becoming more and more dishonest, and they have to suppress the rebellion in the central part.

All of these require money. If taxes are not increased, where will the money come from to raise troops to fight against foreigners?

Moreover, corruption is rampant within the Great Xia court, and many of the tax money collected has been embezzled by officials at all levels.

As a result, Daxia's treasury became increasingly empty.

There is not enough money, so we can only increase taxes. The more we increase taxes, the harder it will be for the common people. Coupled with the severe drought, more and more common people are abandoning their homes.

In the end, the tax revenue of the Daxia court became lower and lower, forming a vicious circle.

This is also the dilemma faced by every dynasty that is on the verge of collapse.

Because of the existence of high-level warriors in this world, the life cycle of the dynasty is much longer than that of Han Chufan's previous dynasty.

But the fundamental problem cannot be solved, and even with the existence of high-level warriors, it cannot be suppressed for too long.

The biggest problem in Daxia now is that more than 80.00% of the wealth is controlled by big landowners, big businessmen, and big officials.

These people hold huge amounts of wealth and large tracts of fertile land, but they do not have to pay taxes.

All taxes in Daxia fell on the common people who accounted for less than 20.00% of the country's wealth.

The rulers continue to suck blood from these poor civilians to feed the millions of troops and corrupt officials.

Polarization is becoming more and more serious.

The big businessmen and officials are getting richer and richer, while the common people are getting poorer and poorer.

Han Chufan pondered for a moment and then returned: "If you want to completely annihilate the rebels, first, send heavy troops to suppress them and eliminate the main force of the rebels.

What's more important is how to appease the rebellious people. In fact, most people are not willing to risk beheading to rebel.

It's just a last resort due to the pressure of life.

So as long as we find ways to keep them fed, clothed, and live a better life, I believe most people are not willing to become rebels. "

Those civilians are easily satisfied. Han Chufan, who came from a poor military household, knows this very well.

As long as they can eat enough and occasionally eat a bowl of white noodles without meat, those common people will be very satisfied.

Han Chufan paused and continued.

"That's why the imperial court wants to reduce their taxes and allocate food for disaster relief.

We also need to help them build water conservancy projects to combat drought so that they can have enough to eat.

In this way, more people will not join the rebel thieves. This is the fundamental strategy to quell the rebel thieves. "Emperor Yingxuan nodded. Han Chufan was indeed very knowledgeable and could point out the crux of the problem.

But in an instant, Emperor Yingxuan shook his head again and said to Han Chufan.

"All of this requires money, but now the imperial court has very little money. The frontier armies in the north, south, and west all need money to support them, and they cannot stop supplying it for a moment."

Han Chufan took a sip of tea and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, we might as well change our thinking. Who has most of our wealth in Daxia now?
If it were not in the hands of those miserable common people, even if they squeezed everything out, they wouldn't be able to get much money out of it.

Most of the wealth in Daxia is in the hands of a small group of people. If they can be taxed, the problem can be solved. "

Emperor Yingxuan listened carefully, but still shook his head.

"Taxing those people will not work. The resistance will be too great. And it may be counterproductive and create an even more chaotic situation.

The current Great Xia can no longer stand any toss. "

Now the wealthy businessmen, bureaucrats and gentry in Daxia have formed a huge interest group.

It would be extremely difficult to tax them. If he were not careful, his throne as Emperor Yingxuan might be unstable.

Han Chufan put down the tea cup, "I can only think of this, and there is no other good solution."

He also had a general understanding of Emperor Yingxuan, and he had the ambition to rejuvenate the Xia Dynasty. He was also extremely diligent and frugal, but he did not have much courage.

Such an emperor is a qualified king when the dynasty is prosperous.

But in the chaotic times at the end of the dynasty, it was impossible to turn the tide and create a prosperous age again.

Now Daxia is like a seriously ill patient who is in urgent need of a strong dose of medicine to save him.

"The matter of taxing those people can only be discussed in the future, and now we need to deal with the main force of the thieves.

Zhao Dalong, the commander-in-chief of Xingyang Town in Yuzhou, has been defeated three times in a row. He has lost his troops and generals, and Xingyang Town is almost wiped out.

There is an urgent need to dispatch troops and horses from other states to suppress the bandits. In Daxia, the most powerful army is undoubtedly Uncle Pingbei. I wonder what Uncle Pingbei wants? "

Emperor Yingxuan's seemingly questioning tone was actually giving an order to Han Chufan.

In the heart of Emperor Yingxuan, Han Chufan was able to capture the barbarian Wanren City and annihilate those thieves. Isn't it a piece of cake?

"Your Majesty has praised me, and I am naturally willing to work for your Majesty and Daxia to exterminate the rebels and restore peace and prosperity to the people.

It's just that I just fought with the barbarians and suffered heavy losses. I need to rest for two months before I can send troops to Yuzhou to suppress the bandits. "

Han Chufan knew that he couldn't shirk it. He had just been granted the title of earl and his official position had been promoted by two levels. It was really hard to shirk it.

In addition, those thieves burned, looted, committed all kinds of evil, and even massacred the city at every turn. They were no different from bandits and Tatars.

Han Chufan also wanted to take the opportunity to destroy them. Even if he could not eradicate these thieves, he would still want to eliminate their main force and delay their growth.

Of course, Han Chufan also left himself some room. He used the heavy losses in the battle with the barbarians as an excuse to delay sending troops to suppress the bandits for two months.

"Okay, I know that Uncle Pingbei is different from those losers. He is my loyal minister of Daxia and will not shirk the important task of suppressing thieves."

Emperor Yingxuan suddenly became happy. As long as Han Chufan was willing to send troops, those rebels would definitely be defeated.

Before he knew it, Han Chufan had become a small soldier and an important minister that the Great Xia Emperor valued very much.

Han Chufan and Emperor Yingxuan talked for a while, and with the promise of sending troops, the atmosphere between the two was very pleasant.

After talking for two hours, Han Chufan walked out of the palace.

Just as he was about to leave, he was suddenly stopped by a young eunuch.

"Uncle Pingbei, go slowly, Princess Lingyue invites you."

(End of this chapter)