Thief Emperor

Chapter 681

Li Yun has lived in Wudang for a long time, so the relationship between the two sides is not so easy to clear up. If Li Yun fails in the future, the Wudang Taoist lineage may still exist, but the Taoists on the mountain will most likely have to be replaced by a new group.

After hearing what Li Yun said, the expression of Ziyang Zhenren changed slightly, but he didn't say much. He just looked up at Li Yun. Li Yun was also looking at him and said with a smile: "From now on, Wudang Mountain will belong to Zhenren's lineage. How about it?"

True Man Zi Yang looked up at Li Yun and took a deep breath.

What Li Yun meant was that those who would be in charge of Wudang Mountain in the future would all be among his disciples. Those who were not disciples of his lineage would not be qualified to be in charge.

As for ordinary disciples, they can be from any sect.

In this way, the status of this Zi Yang Zhenren in Wudang will be greatly elevated in the future, and he may even be enshrined in a statue.

The old Taoist priest was silent for a long time, then he said, "My king, Da... Da Zhou."

He looked up at Li Yun, who smiled and said, "I was once a minister of the Great Zhou, so I don't mind this. The Taoist priest says so."

Zi Yang Zhenren took a deep breath and continued, "The emperors of the Great Zhou Dynasty have conferred titles on Wudang. At this time, there are more than 7,000 acres of land at the foot of the mountain."

This is not surprising. At that time, the ancestral temples and Taoist temples did not rely entirely on incense money to survive. Many of them were owned by landlords.

Moreover, if a temple is very popular, even if the temple does not have any land, the accumulated money will be used to buy land.

In this era, land is something similar to a financial product. As long as you buy it, you can get a certain amount of fixed income every year.

For a large sect like Wudang, which had been rewarded many times by the Wu Zhou royal family, it was not surprising that it had some fields. However, the number of these fields was relatively small.

After all, in this era, the fields produced very little food. Sometimes one acre of land might not be able to feed an adult male. In addition, there were nine Taoist temples on the mountain, and their daily maintenance also required money.

Li Yun thought for a moment and said, "It won't be long before Junzhou starts to reorganize the farmland. As for the farmland in Wudang Mountain, as long as you can provide proof, I will approve it."

Zi Yang Zhenren looked at Li Yun and asked, "How does the king plan to integrate the land?"

"I will confiscate the land of those tyrants and officials of the old Zhou Dynasty who are causing trouble for the local area, register them, and make some of them official land. In the future, I will rent them out to the propertyless and landless people for cultivation, and I will collect almost no rent."

Rent and tax are not the same thing.

There is no rent charged on government-owned land, which means the land is basically given to the people for free to cultivate. However, after the harvest, taxes will still be collected as usual.

"If there is any surplus land, it should be distributed to some propertyless and jobless people and let them cultivate it."

Zi Yang Zhenren thought for a moment and asked, "Your Majesty, I would like to ask you, what is the difference between the two?"

Li Yun lowered his head to drink tea and said calmly: "Official land can only be cultivated, not bought or sold."

The old Taoist priest looked at Li Yun seriously, and after a long silence, he asked again: "After a long time, ten or twenty years later, the land will still be in the hands of those people. They will still be without property and without jobs, and it will be no different from before."

Li Yun smiled and said, "I plan to redistribute the official land every 20 years."

At this point, Li Yun laughed at himself: "It's just that whether my regime can survive for 20 years is still a question, but as long as I live, it will be divided like this."

Zi Yang Zhenren looked at Li Yun and said with a smile: "May the King be blessed with infinite blessings. If you can continue to implement such a national policy, it will be a great merit."

"Your Majesty, you look so majestic, but you rarely have a kind heart."

Li Yun put down his teacup and said calmly, "Two years ago, not long after I came to Luzhou, my father-in-law was transferred to Luzhou as governor. I personally bought four maids for him to take care of him."

"Do you know how much it cost, Taoist priest?"

Zi Yang Zhenren shook his head slightly: "I don't know."

"Only twenty strings of cash."

The old Taoist thought for a moment and asked, "Two years have passed. Are there still people selling their children under Your Majesty's rule?"

"Have."

Li Yun smiled and said, "At the beginning of this year, I sent someone to Luzhou to ask. Now it costs 20 strings of cash to buy a maid."

He lowered his head to drink tea and said, "I think, if there is any merit, this is my merit."

True Man Zi Yang stood up and bowed to Li Yun with a group of Taoist priests. The old Taoist priest bowed his head deeply and said, "Your Majesty, we don't want any of the Wudang land. When Your Majesty distributes the land in Junzhou, we will leave some land for everyone to make a living according to the number of Taoist priests in Wudang Mountain."

"The old Taoist was so grateful that he burst into tears."

He bowed his head deeply and said, "Old Taoist, I must try to live a few more years to see if the world and people's livelihood will get better under the king's rule, and also see the price of people in Junzhou..."

"Will it also increase several times?"

Li Yun stood up and said with a hearty smile: "One day in the future, I will ban these activities and change business to hiring." "As for the land in Wudang..."

Li Yun said softly, "Just follow the Taoist's idea and give each person ten mu of land. When the government starts to distribute the land equally, the number of Taoist priests who have been ordained on Mount Wudang will be the number of land given to them."

A group of Taoist priests bowed deeply to Li Yun and said, "May you be blessed with infinite happiness."

…………

Beijing.

A middle-aged man in spring clothes walked into the capital with his head down. He soon arrived at the imperial city, walked into the Chongde Hall, and paid homage to His Majesty the Emperor.

After meeting with the Emperor for about half an hour, he left the palace and went nowhere else. He went all the way to the residence of Prime Minister Cui Yuan. After seeing Prime Minister Cui, he knelt on the ground without hesitation, bowed his head and kowtowed, saying, "Uncle."

Cui Yuan looked at the middle-aged man on the ground, was silent for a moment, and said, "Get up."

"Yes."

The middle-aged man stood up and said to Cui Yuan, "Uncle, are you in good health?"

Cui Yuan sighed and said, "You won't die for a while, how did you come back?"

"Wei Quanzhong... Wei Quanzhong sent you back?"

Calling Cui Yuan "uncle", and coming from Wei Quanzhong, this person must be Cui Yuan's nephew Cui Shao.

He and Li Yun have a deep connection. When he was in Xuanzhou in his early years, this man was the governor of Xuanzhou. If it weren't for his order to arrest thieves, Li Yun's early career might not have been so smooth.

When Wei Quanzhong left the capital, no one knew what he was thinking. He took one or two young men from each family in the capital and went to Shuofang to take up positions. Cui Shao was among them.

Now, after some time has passed, Cui Shao has also returned.

Cui Shao knelt on the ground again and said to Cui Yuan with a wry smile: "Uncle, if I don't submit to him, how can I return to Guanzhong?"

Cui Yuan sighed and said nothing more, but just asked: "What does Wei Quanzhong mean?"

"General Wei asked his nephew to come and ask Your Majesty whether Guanzhong has been hijacked by Liang Wen. If so, the Shuofang Army will once again come to the rescue of the king, and..."

"The general heard that Li Yun was wreaking havoc in Shannan West Road. In the past two months, he has occupied several prefectures and counties and is moving closer to the Central Plains. He is ambitious. The general reminds the court to be careful."

Cui Xianggong looked at his nephew, was silent for a while, and sighed: "It seems that you have become Wei Quanzhong's messenger. Did he get some evidence against you?"

"Reply uncle."

Cui Shao lowered his head and said, "The general... the general is quite fierce to outsiders, but he is not bad to us subordinates, and, and..."

He took a deep breath and said, "Besides, in troubled times, the Cui family should also make some choices."

Cui Yuan snorted: "Wei Quanzhong, is this your choice?"

Cui Shao bowed his head deeply and said, "Uncle, you have staked your bet on the imperial court, so I don't have many options. Besides, I was coerced by Wei Quanzhong and now I work under him, which is also a job appointed by the imperial court."

"If Wei Quanzhong fails in the future, I will have something to say to you."

"At this moment, I have no way to escape from Shuofang, and... I can't let me go to Li Yun."

"uncle."

Cui Shao whispered, "I came to see you today, uncle. First, I came to pay my respects to you. Second, I also want to tell you that General Wei asked me to tell your majesty that Li the thief is eyeing the Central Plains with greedy eyes. If he succeeds, in two or three years, this thief will be unstoppable."

"General Wei's intention is to ask the court to issue an edict again, ordering all parties to unite and fight against Li the thief. At the same time, because the Central Plains is short of troops, the general has personally led the main force south to defend the Central Plains and resist Li the thief for the court."

"Guarding the Central Plains?"

Cui Xianggong narrowed his eyes and snorted, "Are you competing for supremacy in the Central Plains?"

Cui Shao looked up at his uncle and said in a deep voice: "Uncle, since ancient times, to rule the Central Plains is to rule the world. As long as you stand firm in the Central Plains, you will have a stable and powerful rear."

"No matter who it is, they will fight for it. It's not surprising that General Wei went south."

Cui Xianggong sighed and said, "Wei Quanzhong, has he gone south yet?"

Cui Shao nodded.

"It has gone south."

(End of this chapter)