Thief Emperor

Chapter 415: Never collect rent!

The New Year has passed and spring is about to arrive.

In other words, even if His Majesty the Emperor delays, he can't delay for too long.

Sooner or later he would have to return to Guanzhong to face those Jiedushi who commanded heavy troops. If he wanted to fight against them or even defeat them, he certainly couldn't rely on the imperial guards alone.

At present, the number of imperial guards is not as good as the military forces of the several military governors in Guanzhong, and the quality is not as good as that of the military governors in Guanzhong.

Not to mention.

This central imperial army was even weaker than before. On the one hand, it was because most of them were from Guanzhong. After coming to Xichuan from Guanzhong, many of them had psychological problems.

Because even if they had not received any news from Guanzhong, they could guess that Guanzhong was in a mess today, and most of their families had been displaced or even destroyed.

Moreover, after arriving in Xichuan, the emperor neglected his duties and these imperial guards did not even have the basic training they had before, and their condition was probably even worse than before.

Under such circumstances, even if the emperor wanted to leave himself some room to maneuver, he had to rely on external forces.

The cost of winning over the old vassal states other than the three Jiedushi is too high, and the current imperial court may not be able to afford the price. Therefore, it is relatively more cost-effective to win over some "newcomers".

For example, Liang Wen, who successfully gathered a group of people from the rebels and escaped, was extremely cost-effective.

Although he brought some people out and was able to occupy a piece of land, he had no official status, and those military governors could easily wipe him out by just sending some troops.

But if the imperial court recruited him and conferred him an official position outside the Guanzhong area, with so many vassal states watching him, those military governors would most likely not cause trouble for themselves.

This appointment, which costs almost nothing, can, to some extent, control Liang Wen's small force, or at least make use of him.

If similar methods are used more often, the accumulation of small amounts may be helpful to the current situation. At least that is what the current emperor thinks.

Anyway, the current situation can hardly get any worse.

The emperor and Pei Huang decided on this matter together. After Pei Huang sat aside and finished drafting the document, the emperor asked, "Sanlang, has anything big happened recently?"

"event?"

Pei Huang was now almost the emperor's chief secretary. He could see the emperor more easily than several prime ministers and was in charge of the emperor's intelligence work. He thought for a moment before speaking, "Li Yun from the Jiangnan Province sent troops to occupy Luzhou some time ago."

Pei Huang handed the drafted document to the emperor, and then continued: "This matter is a bit strange. Luzhou has long been occupied by Zhou Xu's people from Qingzhou. There should still be Pinglu troops stationed there, but Li Yun's troops took Luzhou City in just a few days. It was a bit weird."

The emperor thought for a while and asked, "This Li Yun seems to be very powerful."

"Yes."

Pei Huang said softly, "When he was still a captain in Qingyang County, Xuanzhou, I met him. At that time, I saw that he was quite brave and wanted to recruit him for my own use. However, he was arrogant and even injured my family, so the matter was left unresolved."

"Unexpectedly, he followed Su Jing, made some contributions, and entered the officialdom. Later, Su Jing was defeated and almost all the defeated soldiers were taken by him. He inherited Su Jing's family fortune and thus became a little famous."

"Over the past few years, Li Yun's reputation has grown. Now he can almost be called the tyrant of Southeast Asia."

"Su Jing..."

Hearing Su Jing's name, His Majesty the Emperor frowned subconsciously, and then sighed softly: "I already regret it a little bit now."

Pei Huang thought for a moment, then lowered his head and asked, "Your Majesty, do you still remember Su Sheng?"

The emperor was startled, then nodded and said, "I remember that Su Jing's son was imprisoned in the Ministry of Justice for a period of time. Later, he refused the official position given by the court and left Guanzhong, saying that he wanted to look for his father's remains."

"This man...is now leading troops under Li Yun."

The emperor was stunned, then he sighed: "It seems that this Li Yun is really a bit magical, otherwise it should be Su Sheng who took over Su Jing's family fortune."

Pei Huang continued, "Li Yun is becoming more and more powerful now, especially in the second half of last year. He recruited soldiers like crazy in Jiangnan. Now he has tens of thousands of soldiers under his command. In terms of scale, he is even more powerful than Su Jing back then."

The emperor stroked his chin, thought for a while, and then asked, "Can Li Yun be used?"

Pei Huang thought for a moment and shook his head slightly: "I don't know, but based on my understanding of him, this man... seems to be somewhat dissatisfied with the court."

"However, we can still send people to keep an eye on him and report his movements to Your Majesty at any time. Even if he cannot be used by Your Majesty, the court can use this opportunity to instigate him with other military governors in the future, so that they can fight against each other and waste their resources."

"Can the people from the Imperial City Bureau still be sent out?"

The emperor asked this question.

The Imperial City Bureau was also badly damaged after this turmoil. Its current size may not even be half of what it used to be. It can only get a rough idea of ​​the news from various parts of the Great Zhou. It is far from being able to get news from all over the world like before.

"Your Majesty, there is no need to send someone from the Imperial City Department for this matter."

Pei Huang said softly, "I have a servant named Pei Zhuang. He has some friendship with Li Yun. If I send him to Li Yun, Li Yun will definitely accept him."

"Your Majesty will be fully informed of Jiangdong's movements."

Upon hearing this, the emperor nodded slowly.

"well."

"I will let your servant investigate carefully. If Li Yun can be used, I..."

"Maybe there will be an extra helper in the future."

Pei Huang nodded slightly, then whispered: "I think it is better to lead them to fight among themselves. Otherwise, even if Li Yun makes contributions to Your Majesty in the future, there is no guarantee that he will not become Li Quanzhong in a generation."

The emperor nodded and asked again, "Have the prime ministers said anything recently?" Pei Huang was silent for a moment, then whispered, "Two prime ministers seem to want to resign."

The emperor clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, saying, "Rat scholar, rat scholar!"

"Sanlang, go and make the arrangements. Tomorrow...tomorrow..."

The emperor hesitated for a moment, then said, "The day after tomorrow, I will meet with them the day after tomorrow, and ask them to come to the palace to see me."

Pei Huang took a step or two back, bowed his head deeply and said: "Minister, I obey your command..."

…………

Early February of the second year of Zhaoding.

In the Li Garden of Jinling.

At this moment, the weather in Jinling has become much warmer, and some flowers and plants in Li Garden have sprouted new buds.

In the main hall of Li Garden, Li Yun and Xue Song sat in the main and secondary seats respectively.

Du Qian and Xue Shou sat beside them.

Du Qian looked at Li Yun and said with a smile, "There's no need to worry about the situation in Luzhou. I have already sent someone to take charge of the spring sowing a few days ago."

At this point, he looked at Xue Song again and said, "Uncle Xue can wait another month or two before going. There's no need to be so anxious."

Master Xue shook his head slightly and said sternly, "Lord Du, since I have decided to go, I cannot delay. Spring sowing is the top priority. Luzhou has been in turmoil in recent years. If we want to recover, we must do a good job of spring sowing."

"I will leave in the next few days."

After a period of discussion among the Xue family, Mr. Xue finally decided to go to Luzhou against all odds. The main reason he invited Du Qian here today was to ask about the situation in Luzhou.

Li Yun lowered his head and drank a sip of tea, then looked at Xue Shou and said with a smile, "Brother, are you going to Luzhou with me?"

"Yes."

Xue Shou looked calm and said in a deep voice: "My father is old, and Luzhou is a turbulent place. I can't let him go to Luzhou alone. I was originally the deputy governor of Xuzhou..."

He looked at Li Yun, then at Du Qian, and said slowly: "Now I don't seek advancement, I just want to continue to serve as Luzhou Beijia, help my father and give him a hand."

Du Qian quickly smiled and said, "Of course this is good. I have no objection."

Li Yun poured a cup of tea for Master Xue who was standing beside him, and said softly, "Father-in-law, the situation in Luzhou has been reported to me during this period, and I also know something about Luzhou. Since Father-in-law is going there, I have an errand that I want to talk to you about."

Master Xue glanced at him and said in a muffled voice: "When you came to see me last time, you told me that when I arrived in Luzhou, I would be the best official. I just agreed and you arranged a job for me!"

Li Yun laughed: "Let's put it this way. This matter is not a chore, but a general policy that we in Jiangdong must follow one after another."

At this point, Li Yun said seriously: "Luzhou has been in turmoil for many times, and many people have left. Now it happens that we have troops stationed in Luzhou, so this matter can be carried out."

"Luzhou is exempt from taxes this year."

He looked at Xue Song and continued, "But at the same time... we must also distribute the land equally."

Xue Shou, who was standing by, was startled for a moment, then looked at Li Yun in surprise and asked, "How do you do that?"

"All land without a land deed shall be handed over to the government."

"During this period, all the land that the Pinglu Army had divided in Luzhou was also handed over to the government. In short, we have to find a way to hand over most of the farmland in Luzhou to the government."

"Then, they rent it out to tenants and vagrants who have no property or job at a low rent."

"The lease term can be ten, twenty or thirty years."

Li Yun said slowly: "We need to make them determined. For those who are really in difficulty, the government will provide them with seeds free of charge this year to help them settle down."

"Food can also be loaned to them."

Xue Shou looked at Li Yun in surprise. He thought for a while and asked, "Since you've rented it for such a long time, why don't you just give it to them?"

Li Yun smiled and said, "Of course they are afraid that others will force them to buy or sell and then rob them."

"The government's land can no longer be snatched away by the wealthy families."

Xue Shou's eyes lit up at first, then he hesitated for a moment and shook his head slightly: "There will be problems."

This method works well in another world because information is transparent and people are more enlightened, but it is not completely applicable in this world.

Li Yun was also very clear about this.

If the government is run by Li Yun, or by Xue Song and his son, there will naturally not be too many problems. If other officials come to power in the future and the government has so much land under its name, it will be difficult for those officials to resist and not take advantage of it.

Mr. Li lowered his head to drink tea, and after a moment, he continued.

"After a few years, when I have settled down, I will post notices in all the prefectures and counties under my jurisdiction, the government offices under my jurisdiction, and the official fields and crops of the people..."

“Never collect rent.”

(End of this chapter)