Crimson Dawn

Zhang Zhenfang, the governor of Henan, began to wait anxiously after sending a telegram to Yuan Shikai.レ&spes;レ

After hearing what Zhou Zhentao said, Zhang Zhenfang admitted that the taxation in Henan is indeed relatively heavy.If it wasn't for the strict family education of Zhang Zhenfang and his emphasis on self-cultivation, he would have long ago retorted, "If there is no People's Party watching over China, and if there are no foreigners plundering China repeatedly, why would Henan have to pay such a drastic taxation?"

However, Zhang Zhenfang’s family education is strict, and he also pays attention to self-cultivation. Before he said this, he already knew that he should not humiliate himself. The four provinces under the People’s Party are not considered rich areas, and the Yangtze River Basin is even more British. In the scope of extreme control, the People's Party can only collect [-]% of the tax, and the people of Henan have to bear nearly [-]% of the tax. This cannot be explained by a few complaints.

Zhou Zhentao was still unwilling to join the Beiyang Group. Zhang Zhenfang's persuasion did not work, so he could only send Zhou Zhentao away.After sending the telegram, Zhang Zhenfang waited for Yuan Shikai's call back. Once Yuan Shikai asked about the matter, Zhang Zhenfang decided to find a way to get Yuan Shikai to reduce Henan's tax no matter what.

After waiting for a few days, Yuan Shikai's letter arrived.This letter was attached to the official government document. In the letter, Yuan Shikai did not mention anything about Zhou Zhentao, the former teacher of the People's Party. He only told Zhang Zhenfang that the current state affairs are difficult, Henan has a large population and vast fields. As Yuan Shikai's cousin, Zhang Zhenfang We must manage Henan well and give Yuan Shikai a boost. [

Putting down the letter from home and opening the official document, Zhang Zhenfang frowned more and more as he read it.It can be seen from the official document that Yuan Shikai was in a hurry.According to the population of each province, Yuan Shikai set a tax target.All local tax standards and regulations are no longer managed by the central government.In the new tax standard, each locality only needs to complete its own taxation tasks and provide a certain amount of tax and food to the central government.As for who and how to collect taxes, Yuan Shikai's central government didn't care, and the provincial governments were responsible for it.In order to enable the governors of each province to have a certain degree of deterrence, the Beiyang government allowed the governors to establish a "tax police" force.

Zhang Zhenfang put down the official document and sat there for a long time without speaking.Yuan Shikai's determination was fully reflected in this official document. He determined the tax quota, handed over the tax collection power to the governors of the Beiyang provinces, and allowed the governors of the Beiyang provinces to establish tax police forces.A series of measures are to ensure the stability of Beiyang's tax revenue.One more thing was emphasized in the official document, "Taxation is the foundation of national operations, and the central government will firmly support the provincial governors in implementing taxation."

If you want to ensure tax revenue, you can collect taxes from ordinary people, and of course you can also collect taxes from gentry, or increase the tax revenue of merchants.Judging from the meaning of the official document, the central government will definitely support the governors of the provinces, and no one can go to the central government to file a complaint.The faint meaning actually means that it is not hesitating to increase taxes on the big gentry everywhere.Cooperating with the policy of allowing provincial governors to establish "tax police" troops, it seems that Yuan Shikai really made great determination.

Whether it was a private letter or an official document, Yuan Shikai asked Zhang Zhenfang to raise Henan's tax revenue no matter what.Originally, Zhang Zhenfang didn't dare to directly persuade Yuan Shikai to reduce Henan's tax. Looking at it now, even if Zhang Zhenfang had the courage to ask for tax reduction, he would only be reprimanded by Yuan Shikai.

With a long sigh, Zhang Zhenfang set her sights on the map inside the room.According to the intelligence of the spies, there are maps of the major offices of the People's Party.The general explanation is that the People's Party wants every party member and cadre to have the world in mind.Beiyang naturally refused to show weakness, and also printed a large number of maps and distributed them to the provincial governments of Beiyang, asking them to hang them too.Zhang Zhenfang gradually developed a habit of standing in front of the map and looking at things related to the People's Party.

The areas bordering the People's Party have experienced large-scale infiltration of the People's Party.Combining the information collected by Zhang Zhenfang and the information obtained from Zhou Zhentao, some impoverished areas bordering the People's Party can't even support themselves by farming. Working in factories and mines can effectively improve life.In southern Henan, the impoverished Dabie Mountains have all been embraced by the People's Party.The People's Party has infiltrated especially fiercely in Xinyang and other places.

In the eastern plains, heavy taxation for four consecutive years has caused villages to "fall" one by one.After implementing the land reform and paying taxes to the People's Party, the tax collectors entered these villages again, and they were lucky to be expelled by the local village government.Most of the tax collectors will be stripped to only a pair of underpants, tied with ropes and paraded through the streets.After such a treatment, the tax collectors would no longer dare to enter those villages to collect taxes.

This has led to another matter. Many villages that have not defected to the People's Party at all claim to pay taxes to the People's Party when they encounter taxes.As a result, the tax revenue in the area bordering the People's Party in eastern Henan has been greatly reduced.Looking at the map of that area, Zhang Zhenfang's face became more and more ugly.

Looking away, Zhang Zhenfang's eyes fell on the official document again. "Anyone who obeys the law and violates the law, who does not consider the country's difficulties, and who refuses to pay taxes, whether it is officials, soldiers, gentry, or common people, will be severely punished."

This is not for those gentry people who may "not pay taxes", but for the governors of the provinces.The gentry and the common people did not pay taxes, and without Yuan Shikai's order, the local governments had already "severely punished" these people.This is to tell the provincial officials that Yuan Shikai will severely punish those who fail to pay the tax target.

Close ad

It is not impossible to refuse such an order. Now that he has resigned from the position of governor of Henan, Zhang Zhenfang can get rid of the current troubles.Zhang Zhenfang sat back on the chair. He is 49 years old and is already the governor of Henan.If we continue to do so, it is not an unattainable dream to enter the central government to take power in the future.If you resign at this time, you will offend Yuan Shikai greatly first of all.Zhang Zhenfang was able to be reused by Yuan Shikai not because Zhang Zhenfang was a hardcore Beiyang, but because Zhang Zhenfang was Yuan Shikai's cousin.

Thinking of this, Zhang Zhenfang finally made a decision.He is ready to obey Yuan Shikai's order, that is to say, to continue the work of collecting taxes.Raising his hand to call for his followers, Zhang Zhenfang ordered: "The commander of the Beiyang Army, as well as the chief envoy and the envoy of the school are invited to come to the Governor's Mansion to discuss matters."

A busy scene in the village of Lankao County.Although he did not join the People's Party's base area, Zhuangzhai also gained a lot of benefits because of its close proximity to the base area.First of all, the local people in Zhuangzhai bought the winter wheat seeds of the People's Party Guang through their relatives in the village who joined the People's Party local government next door.This kind of seed has been spread wildly in Lankao for a long time.It is said that the wheat fields using this seed have excellent harvests.At that time, Zhuangzhai also thought that it could be stolen. After these wheat fields matured, some people in Zhuangzhai went to the fields under the control of the People's Party to buy a large amount of harvested wheat and returned.

However, at that time, there was a rumor that the wheat of the People's Party used magic. As long as the red flag of the People's Party was not planted at the entrance of the village, and there was no "invited" People's Party Chairman Chen Ke to personally "consecrate" the god, the wheat It grows very poorly, and even no wheat seedlings can grow at all.The local people in Zhuangzhai also seem to believe this kind of ghosts and ghosts.But when the wheat seedlings germinated, the people in Zhuangzhai had no choice but to believe it.

When planting wheat seeds, in order to avoid being deceived by outsiders, more than [-] villagers in Zhuangzhai traveled hundreds of miles to the wheat fields that were about to be harvested and came back with their own hands.We drove all night, and when we came back, the local people saw these thick wheat stalks and the huge ears of wheat on the wheat stalks.

Facts speak louder than words. The folks in Zhuangzhai saw the fineness of the wheat stalks and ears with their own eyes.They are all people who grow crops, how can they not know that this is excellent wheat.The wheat seeds after threshing were properly preserved. When these wheat seeds were planted in the ground, the common people still felt that "don't believe the Shandong people's bragging". Chen Ke is like a god, even if he is a god, it is impossible to know which wheat seeds are planted in the field hundreds of miles away.

After the wilting wheat seedlings grew, the common people began to panic, and in some fields a lot of wheat seeds were planted, and even a few wheat seedlings did not grow at all.After digging up the soil, the people in Zhuangzhai discovered that many wheat seeds were even planted in the soil, as if they were cursed, and did not grow much at all.

The original mood of laughing at Shandong people's bragging immediately turned into great fear of Chen Ke.Chen Ke is a person who really has "Taoism". Otherwise, half of the same land is planted with local wheat seeds and half is planted with stolen wheat seeds. Why can the local wheat seeds grow normally, and the stolen Will all the wheat seeds be finished? [

In order to drive away evil spirits and avoid misfortunes, red flags were planted at the village entrance of Zhuangzhai, and the land planted with stolen wheat seeds was plowed again. The elders of the local clan invited gods to do it.Incense ashes and paper ashes burnt thick.

How could the villagers in Zhuangzhai see this powerful chairman of the People's Party, Chen Ke, and personally "invite" him for a portrait of Chen Ke consecrated by Chen Ke himself.The crowd had no choice, fearing that the living god would be punished by anger, so they entrusted their relatives, invited the local Chen Ke god, and came back to perform rituals.People feel a lot more at ease.

Various rumors about Chen Ke also spread in Zhuangzhai. It is said that Chen Ke himself is from Zheng County, Henan.Since he was a child, he worshiped a Taoist priest who lived in seclusion in Songshan Mountain as his teacher, and learned the yin and yang magic that penetrates the heavens and the earth, knowing the creation of the heaven and the earth, and knowing the laws of everything.The Taoist priest was exhausted, so he asked Chen Ke to go to Shanghai to worship under a high court official named Yan Fu as an apprentice. Yuan Shikai, the president of the Communist Party of China, was a friend of eight worshippers and a friendship of Jinlan.

Then Chen Ke raised troops in Anhui. At that time, there was a flood in Anhui. Chen Ke made a way to drive away the flood and ordered the people to farm in Anhui.Chen Ke cast a spell again, and as a result, the wheat seedlings in Anhui were soaring, and the harvest was even better than before the disaster.Then Chen Ke drove the talisman as a general, and scattered beans into soldiers.The official army was defeated.Then occupied Anhui.

At that time, the Empress Dowager Cixi was in power, and even tried to kill Chen Ke by virtue of the 200-year dragon spirit of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and then sent the current president, the then Beiyang governor and nine admiral Yuan Shikai, to crusade.As a result, Chen Ke used the Jiang Ziya curse to kill Zhao Gongming in Ke Feng Shen Yan Yi, and wrote a spell "The Life of Cixi", which predicted when the Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu would die, and then wrote the spell Give it to Cixi.Cixi opened it and looked at it, and immediately fell under the curse. As expected, as "prophesied" in "The Life of Cixi", she died together with Emperor Guangxu in less than three days.Chen Ke took the opportunity to fight in all directions and seized a large territory.

This rumor frightened everyone. They never thought that they would steal some wheat seeds to this living fairy, so they would be cursed.From then on, the people in Zhuangzhai gave up their desire to steal wheat seeds.

Another year later, the village next to Zhuangzhai surrendered to the People's Party.The people's party sent "agricultural cadres" to the countryside, and the magic about wheat seeds was revealed.It turned out that this kind of wheat was only sold by the People's Party. After it was planted, it had a good harvest in the first year, but it failed in the second year.It was only then that the common people suddenly realized that wheat seeds were kept very close to each other, and the people in Zhuangzhai went more than 100 miles away to buy wheat seeds, and the locals even sold them to the people in Zhuangzhai.This clearly cheated everyone.

However, no one dared to think about this kind of "cursed" wheat seeds.Only one family named Li Sangou was so poor that they couldn't survive. They went to relatives in various villages to secretly ask for some wheat seeds to plant, and the harvest was excellent that year.The wheat grows differently. Everyone asked repeatedly, but Li Sangou couldn't bear it, so he told the truth.It turned out that the People's Party's "one crop of wheat" was stolen.

Seeing that Li Sangou was not cursed to death, some people in Zhuangzhai "stolen" the wheat seeds of the People's Party on a large scale one after another, and they also reaped great harvests.Last year, except for a few timid families, all the people in Zhuangzhai planted the wheat seeds of the People's Party. Looking at the gratifying wheat seedlings, I was still a little bit worried, but no one did not feel great about this year's harvest. confidence.

In the third month of the lunar calendar, a large group of officials suddenly came from outside the village.Seeing the red flag of the People's Party "to ward off evil spirits and stimulate wheat" planted at the entrance of the village, these officers and soldiers even formed formation and surrounded the village.

The big change happened suddenly, but it frightened the people in Zhuangzhai.

♂♂