The gods began by supporting Guo Jing to become emperor

Chapter 162 I'm still too soft-hearted!
Song Dynasty, Lin'an.

Political Hall.

Several officials in scarlet robes sat together to discuss state affairs. Emperor Zhao Kuo sat in the main seat, listening attentively. He looked quite competent, but if one looked closely, one could easily find that his eyes were wandering, and it was obvious that his mind was elsewhere.

"The Mongolian cavalry was strong, and the north fell. The Jin Dynasty had no choice but to move its capital to Kaifeng. We had previously signed an alliance with Mongolia, agreeing to attack the Jin Dynasty together. In the past two years, there have been floods in the south, and the court has consumed a lot of food and fodder. The government also wants to build a Taoist temple, so it is difficult to continue."

"I know you all want to fight, but the court has no money. It's difficult for the officials, and it's difficult for us too. In this case, let's just be patient for now and do it reluctantly. When the court recovers next year, we can avenge our previous humiliation."

"Yes, we had agreed to send troops together with Mongolia last year, but the south suffered a disaster and a civil uprising broke out."

Suddenly, an official said, "However, two years ago, the Kingdom of Jin violated the alliance and attacked our Song Dynasty. Shouldn't we stop paying tribute?"

Breaking the covenant is just an excuse. If they really wanted to stop, they would have stopped two years ago. Why wait until this year?

It is obvious that he saw that the Jin Dynasty was unable to take care of itself after being beaten by Mongolia, and he felt that he was able to recover, so he mustered up the courage to stop the annual tribute. If it was before the Jin Dynasty moved its capital, would he dare to say this?

"It's time to stop. We can save this money and send troops together with Mongolia next year. Maybe we can even take back Henan."

"Yes, that's right."

So, a few officials stopped the annual tribute with just a few words. Zhao Kuo, who was sitting at the top, didn't care about it at all. It was enough for him to stamp his seal and approve it.

……

Xiangyang.

"Take over Shanxi? That's pretty fast."

In the tavern, Su Ming was a little surprised when he heard the drinkers around him talking about the war in the north. It took only two years to conquer the entire Shanxi province. As long as he spent a few more years managing it, this place would be enough to become his base.

"Genghis Khan wanted to attack Guanzhong, but he didn't gain any advantage. It looks like he's going to start a westward expedition."

The Mongols fought each other, but in the final analysis they still wanted money. They were not actually very interested in ruling the place. As long as you could provide money and manpower, that would be enough. If it weren't for the fact that the resources in Hebei were so rich that they could not be completely plundered, they would not bother to care.

The remaining areas of the Jin Dynasty are all hard nuts to crack and cannot be taken without heavy military deployment. In comparison, the Western Regions are much easier to conquer as they are full of soft targets.

In Su Ming's opinion, the Mongolian rule was too rough and could not match the sophisticated exploitation of the Central Plains dynasties, which led to the gradual growth of the powerful northerners and eventually becoming an important force in the Mongolian territory.

After learning the information he wanted, Su Ming did not stop. He left Xiangyang City and came to the mountain outside the city. He put his hand to his mouth and blew a whistle. After a while, a black shadow fell straight down from the sky, raising a rolling wave of dust.

"Wow!"

The eagle flapped its wings and called excitedly. Now it looks much more handsome than before. The tumor on its head has disappeared, and its body is covered with feathers. It looks agile and lively, not as bloated as before.

"Let's go!"

Following Su Ming's command, the eagle flapped its wings and flew into the sky. He took a step slowly, and in the next moment he had landed on the eagle. He stroked the eagle's feathers and said with a smile, "You must be tired of staying in the valley for these years. Let's go to the north to have a look."

……

"Don't come here, don't come here!"

In the corner of the town street, a woman in a coarse cloth dress stepped back step by step, looking at the figure approaching in front of her, her pretty face full of panic, and finally she shrank to the deepest part of the alley, with nowhere to retreat.

Two figures in gorgeous robes slowly approached, with sinister smiles on their faces, their eyes kept scanning her body, very hungry, "Girl, you can scream, even if you scream your throat out, no one will come to save you."

"boom!"

Just as the two were about to rush forward, two strong gusts of wind came from the side and hit them in the face. They immediately fell to the ground, wailing, "Who, come out!"

"You rapist, you deserve a beating!" Zhu Cong, who was on the wall wearing moon-white clothes and holding a folding fan, said coldly.

"Second brother, take care of them quickly, we have to move on!" At this time, a vicissitudes of life voice came from the side.

"Come here."

Zhu Cong jumped off the wall, subdued them easily, and then used a special method to seal their kidney meridians. This method could not be maintained for long, and it could be unblocked as long as a doctor could be found to slowly regulate the body.

"Girl, please leave quickly and don't walk outside alone anymore."

"Thank you very much for your help!" The girl wiped away her tears, her eyes full of relief after surviving a disaster. She thanked him and left in a hurry.

Zhu Cong left the town and met up with the other four of the Jiangnan Seven Freaks. "Brother, I didn't expect that the Seventh Sister would have a child so soon. This is a rare happy event. I'll go there and have a good drink with the Fifth Brother."

Han Baoju also nodded in agreement, looking very excited, "We haven't had a good gathering since their wedding last time, so we must drink enough this time."

After the appointment at the Misty Rain Tower, Guo Jing defeated Yang Kang, Ma Yu admitted defeat on behalf of Qiu Chuji, and the reputation of the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan became more and more famous in the south. Zhang Asheng and Han Xiaoying fell in love with each other and got married in the presence of other brothers. Then they retired from the world and lived in seclusion in the water town of Jiangnan.

Ke Zhen'e and the other three were still doing justice in the south, and their reputations were growing louder and louder. After receiving Zhang Asheng's letter, they decided to get together to celebrate the happy event.

……

In the water town of Jiangnan, a stream flows gently, and dozens of families live sparsely in the village. Smoke rises from the chimneys, and the fields are full of green seedlings. Adults are working in the fields, and children are playing with wooden sticks under the trees, creating a happy scene.

Zhu Cong walked along the country road and couldn't help but admire, "Old Five really found a good place. It's so comfortable to live here."

As they continued walking forward, they saw a strong man carrying a hoe walking towards them. When he saw them, a pleasantly surprised expression appeared on his honest face, "Big brother, second brother, third brother, fourth brother, sixth brother, you are here."

"Lao Wu!"

"Fifth brother!"

Seeing Zhang Asheng's expression, several people were also very excited. After a while of greeting, Han Baoju asked, "Where is the seventh sister? Why can't we see her?"

"She's cooking at home. Let's go to my house. If she knew you were coming, she would be very happy."

At the foot of the mountain, a thatched house stood there, with a fence outside and lush green vegetables planted on the open space. A woman was washing vegetables by the well. Suddenly, a familiar voice came to her ears. Han Xiaoying's body was shocked, "Seventh sister!"

She raised her head suddenly and saw Ke Zhenwu and the others approaching from afar. In the room, seven people gathered around the cradle, looking at the baby lying inside, their eyes full of love.

Although Ke Zhenwu couldn't see, he could hear the child's steady breathing and strong heartbeat. He nodded secretly in his heart and asked, "What's the child's name?"

Zhang Asheng scratched his head with a silly smile on his face, "Hey, the fortune teller in town said that he lacked gold in his life, so he gave him the nickname Tiezhu. Xiaoying and I thought about it for a long time, but we still couldn't come up with a name. It just so happens that he is almost one month old, so I'd like to ask you guys."

Han Xiaoying smiled faintly and stretched out her hand to tease the child, "Fifth brother said that he didn't have much education and was afraid that he wouldn't be able to come up with a good name, so he's waiting for you to choose one."

At this time, Nan Xiren, who usually spoke very little, suddenly said, "In my opinion, why not call it Sui An, which means peace and happiness every year."

When Zhang Asheng heard this, his eyes lit up immediately, "Zhang Sui'an, this is a good name, brother, what do you think?"

Han Xiaoying couldn't help but nod. As a parent, doesn't everyone want to see their children safe and sound?

"Yes, I think it's good."

“That’s what I call it!”

Thus, the child's name was decided.

Immediately afterwards, Zhang Asheng held a full-moon banquet. All the neighbors came, and the full-moon banquet was very lively.

A few people stayed in the village for a month and then left. Although living in seclusion in the countryside was nice, it was not their way.

Before leaving, the seven brothers and sisters gathered together for the last time.

"Brother, where are you going next?"

Zhu Cong pondered for a moment and replied, "The north has been in turmoil for the past two years. Mongolia and the Jin Dynasty have been fighting, and many people have died. We plan to go to the north to take a look and visit Jing'er. I heard that he is doing a great job now."

Han Baoju touched his head and said viciously, "Humph, Jin Gou deserves to be killed. The Song Dynasty has been sending money for so many years, but he is still beaten. Jing'er is working for Temujin, and he finally vented our anger."

Zhu Cong sighed, "Yes, I heard that the court signed an alliance with Mongolia, agreeing to attack the Jin Dynasty together, but the fighting in the north was fierce, and the court did not make any moves. Otherwise, we would have taken revenge long ago!"

"Jing'er's children are probably already quite old, and we haven't seen them yet."

Han Baoju's eyes flashed with memories, "So many years have passed, I still remember the scene when we first met Jing'er, and my second brother was even taught a lesson at that time."

Zhu Cong's mouth twitched. He was talking about something that was not relevant.

A few people got together for a good drink and then separated.

……

Shanxi, Taiyuan General’s Mansion.

Guo Jing sat at the desk and checked the report. While reviewing it, he asked, "Have the combined population numbers of the prefectures and counties been reported?"

A scholar nearby took out a stack of papers from a pile of reports and handed it to Guo Jing. Guo Jing took it without raising his head and read it carefully. However, after reading it, his brows were tightly furrowed.

The report showed that the total number of registered households in various places was less than 200,000.

Two hundred thousand households were too few. He checked the information left by the Jin Dynasty. Before he attacked, there were still 500,000 households in Shanxi. He spent two years conquering Shanxi, but in the end, the population was less than half of that?

If we assume that there are five people in one household, there are 300,000 households, or more than one million people.

From the very beginning, he set his target on Shanxi, so throughout the battle, except for the large number of Jin troops killed, there was not much harm to ordinary people in towns. In addition, the war ended very quickly, so Shanxi can be said to be the place in the north that restored order the fastest.

Logically speaking, the population should have increased, but it turned out to be less than half of what it was. More than one million people died in two years of war. How is this possible?

The Jin Dynasty moved its capital in a hurry. Apart from the wealth of Zhongdu, it did not have time to take away the food and population in the north. Perhaps the Mongolian army killed many people in other places, but it was impossible for it to cause such heavy casualties in Shanxi.

The only reason is that the people below concealed their household registration, and the people behind the scenes were the powerful people from all over Shanxi.

Guo Jing did not implement the tax-farming system like Mu Huali did, but appointed officials like the government did, and the people he employed were all scholars from Hebei, Shanxi and other places. As a result, they did this to him?
At night, he returned to the study, where the reports were still on the table. At this moment, a cold light flashed in his eyes, "Da Hu, come in!"

The door opened and a figure in leather armor walked into the room, "General!"

This person was Da Hu who had accompanied Guo Jing to the north before. He had been his personal bodyguard for the past two years.

Guo Jing stood in front of the desk, holding the report in his hand, "I have been tolerant enough towards them, but they are still not satisfied! Da Hu, you should immediately arrange for someone to investigate, I want to see who are these greedy guys!"

"Yes, sir!" Dahu bowed and walked out of the room.

A faint aroma wafted from the incense burner in the corner. Guo Jing's thoughts became clearer in the scent. At first, he was very angry when he saw these reports. A population of more than one million was divided up by those wealthy families. One could imagine what happened to those people.

Since he established the shogunate, he has been trying every means to win over those people, giving them money and official positions, but this is the result he got. If there were 300,000 households, he could have endured it, but the number in his hand really touched his bottom line.

He knew that population meant taxation and sufficient military resources. More than one million people could at least produce 100,000 able-bodied men, which was a huge number no matter how you put it.

Thinking of this, Guo Jing's expression became even colder, "It seems that I am still too soft-hearted!"

During the conquest of Shanxi, every time he captured a city, he killed Jin nobles. Firstly, these people were domineering in the local area and had accumulated a lot of wealth; secondly, he wanted to kill the chicken to scare the monkey and deter others.

Guo Jing has always been very tolerant towards other wealthy Han families. Now, he does not intend to continue like this. With his current strength, he cannot fight against all the wealthy families, but he can easily deal with one or two.

At that time, it will depend on whether those people know how to behave!
Thinking of the advice given to him by his men, Guo Jing felt even more unhappy. "Tax package? Humph, you wish for it!"

The tax farming implemented by Mu Huali in Liaodong and Liaoxi made these powerful people very jealous. Even after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, many powerful people still missed the Yuan Dynasty, because the Yuan Dynasty's rule over the local areas was very rough, and Kublai Khan came to power with the political power of the Han hereditary nobility, so many hidden dangers were buried at the beginning of the founding of the country.

Although the hereditary nobility system of the Han people was gradually abolished, the tax farming system was retained and continued for hundreds of years.

Three months later, Da Hu's investigation results were delivered to Guo Jing. Looking at the long list, his face turned pale. Almost all the powerful people who surrendered to him were involved in this matter, and the least concealed ones had several thousand households.

This number was estimated based on the data left over from the Jin Dynasty. It is not accurate, but it explains a lot.

(End of this chapter)