The king behind the empress

Chapter 372 Dragon Chariot
Powers from all over the Great Zhou Dynasty sent memorials to the imperial court one after another, expressing their willingness to bow their heads, but they were secretly watching the imperial court's reaction, and were ready for the imperial army to approach the city at any time.

After receiving these memorials, Tang Weiyi did not give a direct answer, but sent someone to Pingzhou to let Mo Zizai decide how to deal with it.

It’s just that Mo Zizai’s army has just arrived in Cangyi City at this time, and now he is busy dealing with the affairs of Cangyi City, obviously he has no time to deal with those people, so he simply doesn’t reply, let those people hang around first, anyway, let them worry about it for a few days, It doesn't hurt either.

Du Cang led a group of officials from the county government out of the city to welcome him out of the city. When he saw the dragon chariot Mo Zizai was riding on, he couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.

The dragon chariot, as the name suggests, is the emperor's car. Logically speaking, Mo Zizai, a prince, is not qualified to ride it. It's fine to sit in the palace at ordinary times, but it's a bit too ostentatious to ride it now.

But Du Cang is not a pedant after all, after thinking of Mo Zizai's identity, he shook his head.

Forget it, the throne should have belonged to him in the first place, and now it's just a couple falling in love with each other. Although thinking like this may seem disrespectful to the throne, His Majesty doesn't say anything about the couple, so it's useless Watching him, a little county magistrate, talk a lot.

"Du Cang, county magistrate of Cangyi City, has met the prince."

Du Cang led the people to Mo Zizai's dragon chariot, and led the people from the county government to salute Mo Zizai.

"Well, no gift."

Mo Zizai walked to the armrest of the dragon carriage, waved to Du Cang, and signaled them to excuse themselves.

Speaking of which, Mo Zizai didn't want to ride the dragon chariot so ostentatiously, but it's too comfortable to stand up.

This dragon chariot can be regarded as an ancestral inheritance of the royal family of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Mo Zizai doesn't know when it was built, but in Mo Zizai's view, apart from the fact that this dragon chariot needs to be pulled by horses, everything else is completely from his previous life. That kind of luxury car is even more exaggerated than a car.

After all, no matter how big the caravan was in the previous life, it had to consider the road traffic law, and its width could never exceed a lane.

But there are no road traffic laws in Dazhou, and this is the emperor's car, so when designing it, it is as comfortable as possible.

The entire dragon chariot is driven forward by 36 horses. Looking from a distance while walking on the road, it does not look like a frame at all, but more like a moving palace. It is even divided into several rooms, so big Let alone his rest, even if he pulls Lie Yan in and walks around twice, there is no problem at all.

The most amazing thing for Mo Zizai was that the craftsman who built this dragon chariot did not know what method was used. Such a large dragon chariot has surprisingly good shock absorption effect. Driving on the broken dirt road in Dazhou, He didn't feel the slightest jolt in the dragon carriage.

Compared with the hard work he had to go to Nanjun on horseback last time, this trip to Pingzhou seemed to be for enjoyment.

And because of Long Nian, Tang Weilu came out with him this time, and was responsible for protecting him personally.

"Hey, this is the way to open the evil feudalism."

Mo Zizai thought about the indulgent life of the past few days, and felt a little emotional in his heart, but now the business was important, so he didn't continue to think about it, but looked down at Du Cang, and said: "Master Du, go to the Dragon Carriage to talk Bar."

The rooms on the dragon chariot are not only for people to live in, but also for receiving ministers. However, the emperors before the Great Zhou Dynasty didn't like to go out for a walk, so the number of ministers who could have the honor of being on the dragon chariot was very small.

At this moment, when he heard that Mo Zizai actually let him go up, Du Yu was still a little excited, but seeing that Mo Zizai had turned around and walked into Long Nian's room, he immediately suppressed the excitement in his heart, and followed the steps that the maid let down. , carefully boarded up.

Under the guidance of the maid, Du Cang came to the living room on the dragon chariot a little nervously. The moment he stepped into the living room, Du Cang smelled a familiar fragrance instantly. He sniffed the scent and sized it up. , and found that on the table in front of Mo Zizai, there was an incense burner that was emitting green smoke.

The moment Du Cang saw the censer, he immediately thought of what the scent was, and couldn't help but blurt out, "Is it ambergris?"

According to legend, ambergris is made from the condensed saliva of a dragon, which is why it has such a special aroma, and it can be regarded as the top spice.

As for its price, one tael of ambergris can be exchanged for more than a hundred taels of gold at least, and it is the kind that has a price but no market.

"Master Du is very knowledgeable."

Mo Zizai nodded, this thing is indeed ambergris, but it is not the ambergris that Mo Zizai knew in his previous life. Mo Zizai knew that the ambergris in his previous life was the excrement of whales. There is nothing but a little fragrance special.

But this ambergris is different. In addition to its fragrance, it can also help warriors practice. Some high-quality ambergris can even increase the cultivation speed of warriors below the shadow state by [-]%, which can be called a god.

Sometimes Mo Zizai even wonders if these ambergris are also excrement of whales, but the whales in this world can also practice like the red-blooded dragon, so what they excrete can also help warriors practice?
Du Cang didn't know what Mo Zizai was thinking, and said with some emotion: "My father was lucky to get a small piece before, and the officials were also present when it was lit, so I still remember this thing."

"It's nothing precious."

Mo Zizai picked up the tea brewed on the table and poured Du Cang a cup, and then said, "When Mr. Du leaves, I'll ask someone to wrap a few pieces for you."

It stands to reason that Mo Zizai is considered to be half the emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. In his capacity, pouring tea for Du Cang would be somewhat disrespectful, but Mo Zizai didn't care about this at all.

Other emperors put on their identities just to maintain the majesty of the royal family and to facilitate the display of imperial power and other things, but Mo Zizai is different, he can do whatever he wants, and he can do whatever he wants with a cheat.

Seeing that Mo Zizai actually poured tea for himself, he, who was quite critical of Mo Zizai's extravagant ostentation, could not help but quietly changed his opinion, but he did not refuse Mo Zizai's gift of ambergris. After all, although he doesn't need this kind of thing anymore, he still has a son at home.

So he cupped his hands and said gratefully: "Thank you, my lord, for your generosity."

"Not so polite."

Mo Zizai took a sip of tea, and then said, "If Master Du hadn't helped me defend Cangyi City this time, it might not be so easy for Chiyan Dragonriders to take Xiangcheng."

"Compared to Xiangcheng, a little ambergris is nothing."

"The ability to win Xiangcheng is really due to the astonishing strength of the prince's Chiyan Dragonrider. I really dare not take credit for it."

Hearing what Mo Zizai said, Du Cang couldn't help but smiled wryly. He had thought that Mo Zizai would definitely send troops to suppress the rebellion in Pingzhou, but he didn't expect that Mo Zizai would be able to show such a strong strength. In time, King Yu was directly wiped out, which is too exaggerated.

"They are strong, but they are not good at attacking cities. If there is no Cangyi City to hold back King Yu's army, they would not be able to take Xiangcheng so quickly."

After Mo Zizai said something casually, and waited for Du Cang to be more modest about it, he changed the subject and said, "I received a letter from Yan Zhang, saying that there seems to be something wrong with the gentry in Cangyi City?"

Hearing Mo Zizai talk about this topic, Du Cang could not help but sit up straight, and said seriously: "Return to the lord, this time the officials guarding the city forcibly conscripted the money and food of these gentry in the city, so they are very dissatisfied with the officials. The general sued the subordinate officer once."

Du Cang didn't hide anything in his words, nor did he mean to favor himself, he just told Mo Zizai exactly what happened.

"oh, I see."

Mo Zizai nodded. Yang Yanzhang's letter only briefly explained the matter. He didn't know the specifics very well. Now after hearing Du Cang's words, he asked again: "Then when you are defending the city, what do these gentry do? Can someone help you defend the city?"

"How could they help the officials defend the city?"

Du Cang smiled wryly, and said: "At that time, even the officials themselves didn't believe that our Cangyi City could be defended, and they didn't even believe it."

"So they left all their guardians at home. On the one hand, they were afraid of offending King Yu, and on the other hand, they were in case the rebels would loot them after the city was broken."

Du Cang's words did not wrong those gentry. For those gentry, whether the city is broken or not has nothing to do with them. To help defend the city, after the city is broken, they only need to contribute some money, and Du Chao can't make things difficult for them.

Therefore, the only thing those big households need to be prepared for is that after the city is broken, the chaos of King Yu's army will loot. As long as they can survive this wave of looting, they will not have any problems after Mo Chao settles in Cangyi City.

"It's a good plan."

Mo Zizai sneered, raised his hand to pour himself a cup of tea, and saw that Du Cang's cup was empty, so he refilled it for him, "If that's the case, then don't keep these people."

"No... don't stay."

Du Cang picked up the teacup and wanted to thank Mo Zizai for pouring him tea, but when he heard this, he froze in place, what do you mean don't keep it?
"Ah."

Mo Zizai nodded, and said: "As a citizen of the Great Zhou Dynasty, if you don't want to go to the court, what are you going to do with them?"

"Anyway, the ministers in the court have been killed by me, and they must have no backing. Those who should be killed will be killed, and those who should be arrested. Don't have any scruples. I have the king to protect you. You can do it That's it."

"In short, the king has only one request, that is, after cleaning up these things, everyone in the entire Cangyi City can have land and everyone can have food. Can you do it?"

"Everyone has a field?"

Du Cang looked at Mo Zizai with a strange expression. He never imagined that the first thing Mo Zizai, who is known for his tyranny, came to Cangyi City was to care about people's livelihood.

"What, is there a problem?"

Seeing that Du Cang was silent, Mo Zizai asked back.

"No... no."

Du Cang quickly shook his head, and said: "Based on the current amount of cultivated land in Cangyi City, if it can be distributed evenly, after the basic land is distributed, there should be a small half of the rich cultivated land."

As the thoroughfare between the two counties, Cangyi City has always been poor, and there is even a lot of cultivated land, but most of these cultivated lands are concentrated in the hands of those big households, and the land in the hands of ordinary people is less than one-twelfth of the total land. .

If we do what Mo Zizai said, clean up all the big households and divide the fields, the people in Cangyi City will be able to live a prosperous life in less than two years.

"only……"

Du Cang thought for a while, and said with some hesitation: "Your Majesty, Cangyi City is not all rich and unkind people, there are many big households who are well-known, they abide by the law on weekdays, but they also hold a lot of land in their hands. How should we deal with it?"

"Abiding by the law? Heh~"

Mo Zizai sneered, and said, "Where is the law-abiding? My father once issued an order to limit land, stipulating that there are no special circumstances. Individuals can own land, and each household can't exceed [-] mu. What do you think of these people? The land property does not exceed one hundred mu?"

"Even if some of them made their fortunes as merchants and don't have much property in their hands, I don't believe they even paid the full merchant tax."

Speaking of this, Mo Zizai laughed and said: "If they really don't have much land, don't evade taxes, and can accumulate such a huge family background, then the king is too happy, and how could he move them? Woolen cloth."

As a feudal court, Dazhou also severely suppressed commerce. In addition to strict conditions, it also set super high commercial taxes.

But there are policies and countermeasures. The imperial court collects a lot of business taxes, and those businessmen at the bottom have enough ways to evade taxes. People who really pay the full amount of business taxes are even fewer than saints in Dazhou.

So after hearing what Mo Zizai said, Du Cang nodded with some understanding, "Your Majesty understands the meaning of the prince."

"The next official just happens to have some criminal evidence against these big households, so I'll send someone to arrest them right away."

"As for those who have no evidence, the lower officials will also collect their criminal evidence from the people in the past few days, and if they find one, they will be arrested and will not be tolerated."

"Don't be so troublesome."

Mo Zizai pointed out, "You catch the ones with evidence first, and then let them bite each other for the rest."

"These businessmen must have intrigues and plot against each other a lot on weekdays. They must have a lot of crimes in their hands. You just need to pry their mouths open, and the evidence will naturally come in an endless stream."

"My lord said..."

Hearing what Mo Zizai said, Du Cang nodded in amazement. There is a saying that the person who knows you best is not your friend, but your enemy, and these businessmen are full of competition with each other. Not too much.

Therefore, it is much faster to pry the evidence of other businessmen from their mouths than to collect it from the people.

"Then I won't bother the lord anymore, I'll arrest him right now!"

"Well, go get it."

Mo Zizai asked the court lady to bring a piece of ambergris to Du Cang, and when Du Cang was about to leave, Mo Zizai suddenly remembered something, so he stopped Du Cang and said:
"By the way, I heard that you have a sharpshooter under your command. I want to meet him. You can ask him to come."

(End of this chapter)