Yingdu.

"King, news came from the Song Kingdom, and the King of Song was terrified when he learned that the Zhu Kingdom had stopped fighting in Shou County and was not leaving. Not long ago, the King of Song sent Xiangguo Qiu Ye to Shou County to work for the army, and offered 200,000 stone grain and 5,000 gold. ”

After Xiong Huai heard the news of King Song Laojun, he smiled: "I knew why bother today, King Song, this old guy, is just toasting and not eating and drinking." ”

Saying that, Xiong Huai asked again: "How is the prince now?" ”

Chen Zhen smiled and said: "Back to the king, the crown prince Zhen was released by the king of Song before the Song Xiangqiu liquid left Shangqiu, and after the prince Zhen got the news that we rescued him, he sent his second son to Yingdu to thank the king, calculate the time, the second son of the prince Zhen will arrive in Yingdu in a few days." ”

"Okay." Xiong Huai said lightly: "Prince Zhen has regained his freedom, and the pressure on our side of the Song Kingdom has immediately decreased a lot." ”

After talking about the affairs of the Song Kingdom, Xiong Huai turned his attention to the feudal monarchs in Huainan: "Chen Qing, it has been almost two months since the reform of the law in the country, what are the movements of the feudal monarchs in various places now?" ”

Chen Zhen's face turned straight when he heard this: "Great King, the feudal monarchs in various places south of the Han River, because the Ling Yin sent by the Great King has already grasped a lot of power in various places, so the feudal monarchs on the Jiang and Han sides are facing the general trend of changing the law, although they try their best to retain or even control the people under their rule."

However, when the people of each county successively reported their private fields in the wilderness as their newly opened wasteland, the news spread that they had officially obtained the knighthood.

Not only did the people from all over the country begin to report their private fields one after another, but the people of the feudal monarchs also longed for it after seeing that the people of each county had become nobles, and began to flee to the wilderness and defect to the counties as thieves. ”

Speaking of this, Chen Zhen remembered the situation of the people who fled from various places, and couldn't help but be slightly stunned, and then stopped.

After a breath, Chen Zhen continued: "Because the Jiang Han feudal monarch is unable to cope with the change, the escape of the people of the feudal monarch here is becoming more and more obvious and serious.

As for how many thieves from the wilderness have been accepted in the counties in the past two months, there should be a detailed record of where the Zuo disciples are, but the minister is not very clear. ”

Xiong Huai nodded, the situation on Jiang Han's side had long been expected by him, maybe the feudal monarchs here had some means to deal with the general trend of changing the law, but under their obstruction of Ling Yin, these methods might not be effective.

"Since the arrival of King Xuan, the number of people controlled by the state has been decreasing day by day, and even the national strength has been weakened, and the widows are deeply worried about it, and it is difficult to sleep and eat. Until today, when the widow heard that the people in the country began to return to the control of the widow from the nobles from all over the country, the widow is now a little at ease, even under the nine springs, he can calmly face the previous kings. ”

Xiong Huai sighed lightly, and then asked, "Chen Qing, what is the situation over there in Jianghuai." ”

"Back to the king." Chen Zhen said with a heavy face: "On the Jianghuai side, there were also people fleeing at first, but the feudal lords from all over the country then took various measures to deal with it.

Therefore, according to the news obtained by the ministers, there are very few people on the Jianghuai side who have fled from various places. ”

"Hmm!" Xiong Huai was quite unimpressed when he heard this, and asked with a smile: "Xianqing, let's talk about it, those feudal lords of the widow have taken those measures. ”

"Back to the king, the most common way is to set up checkpoints on the roads under his rule, strictly prohibit caravans and other outsiders from entering, and then try to block the news that the king has begun to change the law."

Xiong Huai smiled: "So how is the effect?" ”

Chen Zhen said with a smile: "Back to the king, of course this method is useless, as early as ten years ago, the spies of Zhibeiya went deep into various places with the personnel of Yuefu from all over the country, and they have taken root in various places. Therefore, as soon as the content of the king's change was announced, spies from all over the country immediately began to publicize the news of the change.

Therefore, by the time the feudal lords in various places began to block the news, the content of the changes had basically spread. ”

Xiong Huai smiled when he heard this.

Then, Chen Zhen spoke again: "Later, after the feudal monarch saw the leakage of the news, he knew that the blockade of the news was hopeless, so he began to spread all kinds of rumors, such as a large number of slaves in the mines of the imperial court, and the imperial court recruited thieves not to let the thieves go to farming but to mine, or that the imperial court wanted thieves to go to Pengze to reclaim the wasteland, or that the king was protected by heaven, as long as he defected to the king, he could have endless food, endless new clothes, endless beauties and so on without labor.

All kinds of rumors are difficult to distinguish between true and false, which makes it difficult for people everywhere to distinguish between them, so the news of the king's change of law is drowned in these rumors that are true and false. ”

Xiong Huai smiled: "Tribulation sees the truth, and the hearts of the people see over time, what is true is true, and what is fake is false, they can hide it for a year and a half, can they still hide it for three years and five years." Therefore, this rumor is only a stopgap measure, and it will not be long before the rumors will be self-defeating in the face of the actual situation in the counties. ”

"The king is wise." Chen Zhen arched his hand and said: "So the feudal lords in various places have come up with other methods, and some feudal monarchs have begun to order a reduction in the taxes of the people under their rule in order to avoid the people from fleeing, trying to retain the people through light taxation. ”

Xiong Huai smiled and said: "It is also a plan for rights and interests, the world is constantly fighting, maybe when the war will burn to the head of Chu again, in order to deal with the war, it will be difficult to continue." Once the war resumes, and they don't have enough food and military resources to support the war, then heavy taxes will be re-levied

Even the widows did not dare to adopt a strategy of lightly paying taxes in the counties to attract the people, and they who still had to pay taxes to the widows adopted such a policy, which could not last long. ”

"In addition, there are some feudal lords, in order to cope with the change of law, they adopt similar strategies in their fiefdoms, trying to retain the people."

"Huh." Xiong Huai smiled and said disdainfully: "The widow's feudal monarch is as big as Ling Yin, with a fief of 100 miles, but most of the feudal monarchs are just one or two small cities, how many nobles can be produced in such a small territory?"

Aren't they worried that they don't have enough land for the common people? ”

"The king, and some feudal kings, ordered the people to be soldiers, used the people to supervise the people, and strengthened the control over the people, so as to prevent the people from fleeing."

Xiong Huai frowned when he heard this, and after carefully inquiring about the specific situation of Ling Min's Shiwu, he was silent for a long time before shaking his head and said: "This method seems to be feasible, but it is also difficult to last, the usage is cruel and tyrannical, but there is no heavy reward measures like the Qin State to win people's hearts, and the continuous high pressure will definitely lead to a strong backlash."

Although this law can control the people, it is difficult to control the people for a lifetime. Like the powerful kings of the past, if they do too much injustice, they will kill themselves, and I will see that they will collapse themselves in the future without my help. ”

Chen Zhen nodded, and then said heavily: "Also, the feudal lords in various places also befriended the county Yin in various places in the name of thieves in the name of the people under their names fleeing, and set up guanyi on the avenues in various places, trying to prevent the fleeing people from going to the counties. ”

"Huh?" Xiong Huai's face sank when he heard this, if it was usual, he would not have paid attention to this kind of arrest of the people under his name and fled, but now that they dare to use this to hinder the change of the law, it will be unbearable.

However, after all, the people of the feudal monarch belong to the feudal monarch, how to deal with it.

After thinking about it, Xiong Huai instructed: "Spread the edict to the whole country, and the widows will reward the people to the nobles, not only to reward their merits, but also to let the nobles in the country shepherd the people on behalf of the widows."

However, the people who have been rewarded to the nobility have fled in large numbers, and the widows are shocked to hear that they can hardly control themselves. Is it the unladylike people who are rewarded by the widows, or the nobles of the widows who treat the people who are rewarded by the widows?

If the people are guilty, then the widow immediately exchanges them with good people, and if the nobles treat the people so mistreated, so that the people flee spontaneously, it is the tyranny of the nobles, and they have no way to govern, and it is difficult to shepherd the people.

This matter is about the face of the widow, and it is also about whether the nobles can continue to shepherd one side for the widow.

Therefore, the widow decided to let Tingli go to Shou County to thoroughly investigate the escape of the nobles, and submitted all the cases of the common people to the widow for reapproval. The widow should tell all the nobles and the common people that the widow will not wronged any good man nor any bad man.

Therefore, the county governors in all localities were ordered to immediately revoke the county checkpoints, and the nobles and ordinary people were not allowed to come to sue the case. ”

"The king is wise." Chen Zhen bowed his hand, and then reported with a heavy face: "King, in addition to the above measures, some feudal monarchs in various places have begun to recruit all the people under their rule, and each household has recruited one strong man. ”

"Huh??" Xiong Huai was stunned.