"Since the Son of Heaven ascended the throne, the situation in the court has been unpredictable, the Son of Heaven has reused the officials of the East Palace, and the officials close to the King of Chu, regardless of their virtue or foolishness, have all belittled and suppressed, and the court has a voice of praise and greeting." Lin Yizhen said sullenly. Time has passed, and the two confidants sit together, no longer talking about poetry and books, they are concerned about the trend of the court, the fate of the family, and the safety of the world.

Jiang Anyi knew something about the court from Tian Shoulou's letter, but Tian Shoulou's official rank was low, and it was impossible for him to be a five-grade official like Lin Yizhen, and he was a child of a family, so he knew the dynamics of the court very well. The sentence flashed in his mind, the high of the temple is worried about the people, and the distance of the rivers and lakes is worried about the king, thinking of Emperor Su's kindness to him, Jiang Anyi was full of sorrow and speechless.

Lin Yizhen continued: "The Son of Heaven continued the policy of suppressing the family when Emperor Su was in power, and during this period of time, he was stepping up the liquidation of the Huang family, Xuanwu Marquis Huang Yongsheng was closed, Huafang Marquis Huang Jifei went to Zhenbei to serve in the camp, Huang Ping moved to Qingtian as the envoy, and the children of the Huang family were sent out of Beijing one after another, and even Huang Jiwei, the Shaoqing of Sinong Temple, was transferred to Fangzhou to drive away, and the Huang family's forces were almost swept away in Beijing. Alas, the Son of Heaven acted in such a hurry that the other families had to join forces to fight. ”

The top ten families, in addition to Shi, Wang, Wei, there are Cui, Lu, Liu, Huang, Liu, Lin, Li, the Li family was the first to be weak, in recent years, there has been improvement, Liu, Lu was suppressed by Emperor Su in a hidden state, now the Huang family ushered in a storm, whether it can be supported The key is whether Huafang Hou can gain a foothold in the north camp of Zhenbei, the remaining Cui, Liu, and Lin will inevitably have the sadness of the rabbit and the fox, maybe the next target is their own family, and it is inevitable to secretly win over Lu, Liu, Li, and Huang to form an alliance to resist.

Jiang Anyi sighed lightly, the gods fight, mortals suffer, and the open and secret battles of the ten great families will definitely make the court unstable, and it will eventually be manifested in the turmoil in the world, and the people of Li will suffer greatly.

Lin Yizhen looked at Jiang Anyi and said earnestly: "Anyi, you and I have been confidants for many years, and we want to form a family of children and daughters, there is something I want to say to you bluntly." The Lin family has been running Lingzhou for generations, and the accumulated wealth supports the entire Lin family. Therefore, the Lin family cares about transferring some industries to Huazhou, and I hope that Anyi can help. ”

Jiang Anyi was secretly frightened, the situation was not so serious that the Lin family began to want to transfer assets, Louzhou and Huazhou were separated by merging states, the Lin family, the Cui family, the Lu family, the Liu family, and the later Li family all traded with the Western Regions through Huazhou, but they each had their own ways, such as the Ning family, the former Han family and the Hua family had contacts with them, and the Li family followed Jiang Anyi into Huazhou, and his background was the Jiang family.

As Jiang Anyi gradually took root in Huazhou, his control exceeded those native Huazhou forces, especially when he returned to Huazhou again as an envoy, and the old forces of the Han family and the Hua family died out, and these families began to seek cooperation with Jiang Anyi.

Not to mention Lin Yi's true feelings, this kind of thing is also a good thing for Huazhou, of course Jiang Anyi will not refuse, and said with a smile: "Brother Lin, don't worry, as long as I am in Huazhou for a day, the Lin family's industry will be safe and sound, to put it mildly, even if I am not in Huazhou in the future, I can still say a few words." ”

"Anyi, don't be careless, your prestige in Huazhou is too high, and the Son of Heaven is already jealous, so you need to be on guard." Lin Yizhen frowned and said seriously.

Jiang Anyi's heart warmed, and he said with a smile: "Brother Lin, rest assured, the Son of Heaven values taxes, and this year's taxes in Huazhou will definitely satisfy the Son of Heaven." Jiang Anyi said this with full confidence, this year's situation in the border market has returned to the level of previous years, it is estimated that the tax revenue will not be less than 3 million, plus the land tax, commercial tax and other taxes will definitely exceed 4 million, the new Gobi gold and jade mines, although not on the surface, but the income can be handled flexibly, adding 450,000 taels to the tax is not a problem.

Lin Yizhen shook his head, took a sip of tea, and made no sound. The Son of Heaven decreed that the performance appraisal of officials pay attention to the growth of taxes, the Son of Heaven pays heavy taxes, but forgets the people's livelihood, the officials of the world are desperately searching for the good of the king, and this year's summer tax has increased by 30% compared with the previous year, and these increases are the people's fat and people's ointment.

"Combined tax is one" Houtian tax only needs to pay about 30 yuan per mu, about two buckets of grain, and the average grain per mu can be about one stone and three and a half, and it is very good for the people to have such a harvest after being exempted from miscellaneous taxes. Emperor Su forced the whole world to implement, taxes did not decrease but increased, the country and the people benefited, and those corrupt officials and corrupt officials benefited less. Governing the world is inseparable from officials, Jiang Anyi saw the drawbacks, and asked Emperor Su to appropriately subsidize officials, and Emperor Su ordered that one percent of the land tax be retained as a subsidy for officials at all levels.

After Shi Chongwei ascended the throne, he repaired the palace for the queen mother to celebrate her birthday, and the officials who sent silver were praised afterwards, and Yang Quandong, the assassin of Fuzhou, was promoted to the head of the household department, which made many officials see the shortcut to promotion. When the intention of paying attention to tax growth in performance appraisal was conveyed to the state and county, many people used their brains.

"In order to be promoted, officials from all over the country are desperately trying to find ways to pay more taxes, and where there are resources, they increase commercial taxes. Then there is a way to ask for money from the land, and the people of the world know the government of "combining taxes as one", which no one dares to risk the condemnation of the world, but in order to get promoted and make a fortune, these people are very smart. Lin Yizhen said angrily: "The government takes the people in the village with many fields as the grain chief, responsible for the collection of the land in the district, and if the task is not completed, it will pay to make up for it. In this way, contradictions between the squires and the common people in various places gradually emerged, and conflicts continued, and in June alone, the military headquarters received hundreds of conflicts and turmoil reported from various places. ”

Jiang Anyi thought to himself, no wonder the Lin family began to transfer assets to Huazhou, and it is estimated that they saw that there were signs of eating big households in the court, so they took precautions. The squires of all dynasties and dynasties were the cornerstone of the country's stability, and in doing so, they were digging their own roots fundamentally. Jiang Anyi asked, "Isn't there a minister in the court who advises the Son of Heaven?" Did Kong Xiang and Duan Xiang turn a blind eye? ”

"Kong Xiang, Duan Xiang and many ministers have played the book, thinking that the grain chief's system hurts the country's capital and should be strictly prohibited, but Yang Quandong, the head of the household department, thinks that 'the squire is rich and Toda Lianqianmo, and enjoys the emperor's grace on weekdays, and should also serve the country', and Cheng Mingdao, the servant of the ministry, said, 'The whole world is the king's land, the subjects of the world are all for the country, and the country takes the endowment according to the law, what is wrong?' ”

Jiang Anyi angrily reprimanded: "The country is people-oriented, the squire is the backbone, the society is established, the court and the people compete for profits, and the rat is blind, I am afraid that disaster is not far away." ”

Lin Yizhen smiled bitterly: "Anyi, this is not the most terrible thing. I have heard that in order to collect taxes, some local governments force peasants to sell grain, and at the same time a large amount of grain is put on the market, the price of grain has dropped sharply, and the money is heavy and the goods are light, and the government collects land taxes at the price of silver, and converts one or two taels of silver into 1,100 or even 1,200 yuan. This was not enough, and some local governments charged the cost of smelting and casting the loose silver on the grounds that the transportation of court taxes required fifty taels of silver, and one tael of silver cost as much as one to three yuan. ”

"Shameless", Jiang Anyi angrily threw the teacup in his hand on the ground, and the court asked the states to pay taxes in silver taels, each of which weighed fifty taels of silver, and there were words of each state below, so that it was convenient to find out the fineness of the silver taels in each state. Silver will definitely be lost when it is melted and cast, but the fire consumption of one or two taels of silver is only one or two percent, where will it reach one or even three percent, and there is no need to ask the extra fire consumption to become the surplus profit of the government and the people.

The money turned into silver was stripped once, and then the broken silver was turned into whole silver and then stripped again, and the people's land tax actually doubled, or even more. This is the reason for the sharp increase in the summer tax of the court, every cent is the blood and sweat of the people, Jiang Anyi felt that his heart was pulled up, and at the same time, a sense of powerlessness rose, and said: "If you are not in your position, you will not seek your own government, Jiang can only ensure that such a thing does not occur in Huazhou, who dares to brutalize the people and enrich himself, Jiang will definitely let him die a good death." Brother Lin, you reminded me that after returning to Huiye Mansion, I will explain the history of Zhou Thorn, and ask him to urge the counties to protect grain prices and allow the people to use grain to offset taxes. ”

Lin Yizhen said: "Anyi governs Huazhou, which is really a blessing for the people of Huazhou. ”

…………

On September 17, Jiang Anyi came to Deng Huaisu's residence as promised. After a few cold words, Deng Huaisu really talked about the situation in Beijing, which was roughly the same as Lin Yizhen, but in Deng Huaisu's eyes, crises and opportunities coexisted, and the Son of Heaven drastically changed the court members, so that Zheng Huaisu saw further hope.

Now there are Jiang Anyi, Wei Huaichao, Yu Jingshan, Yu Mingyang and a number of officials above the fourth grade in the Ze Party, as for the local officials of the sixth and seventh grades, there are even more, as the leader of the Ze Party, Deng Huaisu feels that he has the ability to work hard towards the position of the Sixth Department and the Nine Qings, and his predecessor Fang Lin is Guanglu Qingqing.

"Anyi, we were born in Zechang Academy, whether you want to or not, everyone in the world regards us as a party. Party members, colleagues also ......" Deng Huaisu obviously made preparations, and planned to move Jiang Anyi with affection and reason, and said a lot of incense before he took a sip of tea and moistened his dry throat.

Seeing that Jiang Anyi seemed to be moved, Deng Huaisu threw out the purpose in his heart and said: "My fellow classmates in Zechang are advancing and retreating together in the court, speaking out for the people, shouldering morality with iron shoulders, and everyone in the world respects me." Since Emperor Su ascended the throne, the suppression of the family and the friends of the party, regardless of whether it is the Ze party or the chapter party have gradually weakened, and the classmates are secretly pouring out of the party, which is not as united as the chapter party, and has gradually been marginalized above the court. ”

Jiang Anyi nodded, he witnessed the fight between Deng Huaisu and Wei Huaichao, and as a result, Fang Linbin came to the top and became the leader of the Ze Party.

Deng Huaisu continued: "Fang Gong entered Beijing to serve as the Qingzheng of Guanglu Temple, and gathered my classmates together, and the momentum of the Ze Party gradually surpassed that of the Zhang Party, and this Fang Gong's merit is also. It's a pity that Fang Gong is old and passed the torch to Deng, Deng is not talented, and he is valued by Fang Gong, and he dares not to do his best for Zechang's classmates. ”

"Brother Deng has been in Beijing for many years, and he has a wide range of contacts, and Zechang's classmates are all convinced, Jiang believes that with Brother Deng, Ze's party prestige will be able to reach a higher level." Jiang Anyi said lightly.

Deng Huaisu became excited and said with a smile: "If you can get Anyi's help, Deng is full of confidence." In recent years, Deng Mou has been promoted to the rank of the fourth rank in terms of seniority, but the official is still a waiter in the Ministry of Rites, which is far from the position of Fang Gong's Jiuqing. If the Ze Party wants to speak loudly in the court, the position of the party leader is very important, if Deng can go further, the status of the Ze Party in the court will naturally rise, An Yiyuan is in Huazhou, if there are any demands, Deng can also make a statement on his behalf. ”

Jiang Anyi was secretly disgusted in his heart, and he was a person who chased fame and fortune, but what Mr. Zhang said was right, the world is nothing more than fame and fortune, so how can he get rid of it. Thinking of this, Jiang Anyi smiled and said, "I don't know what Brother Deng wants Jiang to do?" ”

Deng Huaisu saw Jiang Anyi agree, and said with great joy: "It is rumored in Beijing that the Son of Heaven intends to replace Wu Shangshu of the Criminal Department and Ding Shangshu of the Military Department next year, and it is very likely that the Taifu Temple, Qin Tianjian, and Shaofu Prison will also replace Qingzheng, Anyi has a very high status in the heart of the Son of Heaven, if you can help him, Deng may have hope to find one." ”

Jiang Anyi understood that this help was nothing more than asking for silver to go to the door, thinking that the Taifu Siqing was Li Mingxing, he secretly sighed in his heart that if Li Mingxing was replaced, the Li family would have no one to follow up in the court, and Li Dongfeng would need at least ten years to grow up.

However, Li didn't need to worry about family affairs, Jiang Anyi smiled: "If Brother Deng is useful to Jiang, just ask." Jiang is far away in Huazhou, and communication is inconvenient, my subordinate Tian Shoulou Brother Deng should know, if there is anything, you may wish to tell me through Tian Shoulou, if you need to use silver taels, you may wish to ask him for it. ”

Deng Huaisu said with a smile: "I am very familiar with Shoulou, and before leaving Beijing, Shoulou also made a special trip to my house to send Cheng Yi, this exquisite person." Anyi, I won't say thank you, our brothers go hand in hand to create a great cause. ”