Zhang Xuan listened to Hu Tang and said, "Oh, Lord Hu, please speak." ”

Hu Tang said: "The lower officials found that the Chaozhou gentry had complaints about the heavy responsibility of the car. The heavy responsibility of the car is just a bandit. The Teochew gentry were demanded. The lower officials have a connection with them in this way. There is an opportunity to take advantage of it. Hu Tang said half a sentence, and suddenly paused.

Zhang Xuan immediately understood.

Although it was the highest-level meeting of Daxia in Guangzhou, there were more than a dozen people who could hear the conversation with you, plus your entourage, and the guards outside. There is also a special person named Zheng Chenggong, and some things are difficult to say.

Zhang Xuan said: "Okay. Then salute first and then soldiers, and leave the affairs of Chaozhou to Mr. Hu. ”

"Please rest assured, before the spring of next year, I will give the general an explanation." There was a sense of confidence in Hu Tang's tone. Zhang Xuan believes that Hu Tang has actually made arrangements. Zhang Xuan secretly said in his heart: "In private, I want to ask about the situation." ”

Zhang Xuan nodded, and the question was skipped.

After some inquiry, Zhang Xuan confessed to the enemy he was facing, and Zhang Xuan turned the situation into an internal affair and asked, "Mr. Fu, you are the governor of Guangdong, how is the situation in Guangdong now?" ”

In fact, for Fu Shangrui, the governor of Guangdong, he is a transitional figure. Give Guangdong a demoted official, seeing that Fu Shangrui was still a demoted official before, but a few months later, he was transferred to the governor of Guangdong, and he can be regarded as a senior official.

In order to recruit Guangdong officials.

Almost everyone in Guangzhou knows this. The most obvious Hu Tang is the prefect of Guangzhou. But in front of Zhang Xuan, he has a sense of presence than Fu Shangrui.

Fu Shangrui himself knows this, so during this period of time, although he can't meddle in the affairs of Guangzhou Mansion, he has tried his best to woo the officials who have been demoted everywhere. wants to use the power of the demoted officials to sit firmly in the position of governor of Guangdong.

Fu Shangrui did his homework, and when he saw Zhang Xuan's question, he didn't panic at all, and said: "Guangdong Lingfu ten, Zhili Prefecture one, county seventy-five, north to Wuling, east to Chaozhou. west to Qinzhou. South to Qionghai. When Zhang Wenzhong was there, he checked that the household was 530,712 and the mouth was 5,400,655. Although this amount is not accurate, the tax collected by the imperial court is probably based on this number. ”

Zhang Xuan's nose snorted slightly. He didn't believe it, this amount.

There are only more than 5 million people in the whole of Guangdong? How is this possible, in his opinion, there are no less than a million people in the entire city of Guangzhou. However, the fly camp under Daming is not the time for liquidation, and there will naturally be a time for settling accounts in the future.

The most important thing for him now is to block the place, no matter how much, and bring up the tax first.

Without money, he always has an army of more than 100,000 people, and he is also marching south.

Fu Shangrui heard Zhang Xuan snort coldly, paused slightly, and saw that Zhang Xuan didn't say anything else. He continued: "These ten prefectures are Lianzhou Mansion, Leizhou Mansion, Qiongzhou Mansion, Gaozhou Mansion, Zhaoqing Mansion, Guangzhou Mansion, Shaozhou Mansion, Nanxiong Mansion, Huizhou Mansion, and Chaozhou Mansion. Plus one more state, which is Luoding Prefecture. ”

"Among them, only Lianzhou Mansion, Chaozhou Mansion, as well as Huizhou Mansion, Changle, and Haifeng counties have not yet arrived."

"Wait." Zhang Xuan said: "Chaozhou Mansion, I know, but what is going on with Lianzhou Mansion? ”

Fu Shangrui said: "Lianzhou Mansion is in the westernmost part of Guangdong, blocked by Yunkai Mountain, and only the coast line is connected to Leizhou Mansion. General Zheng, who regained Qiongzhou with his troops, has not yet advanced westward. ”

Zheng Chenggong said: "If the adults are interested, I am willing to go west to take Lianzhou Mansion." ”

"No need." Zhang Xuan said. He secretly said in his heart: "But I thought it was wrong." ”

The territory of ancient and modern Guangdong is different, Zhang Xuan recalled the current map of Guangxi and Guangzhou, and the current Guangxi has no coastline. That's right, Guangxi in this era was a landlocked province. Lianzhou Mansion is now Qinzhou City, Beihai City, and most of Fangcheng City, Guangxi. Of course, the boundaries of ancient and modern land do not necessarily coincide.

For a while, Zhang Xuan confused the ancient and modern realms, and he figured it out at the moment. said: "When the Lianzhou Mansion is waiting for the army to march west, it can be attacked together." Master Fu continued. ”

Fu Shangrui said: "The county magistrates and county orders of each county have already been read by the lower officials. According to the general's military order, for more than a month, more than 10,000 troops or a battalion have been stationed in various prefectures and counties, and the Ming army banner has been raised in the territory to resist, and there have been more than 100 cases, which have been pacified one by one. ”

"This year's autumn tax has already been collected. Before June next year, when there is a spring tax, according to the usual tax amount, there will be about 150,000 taels of silver. ”

Zhang Xuan sighed: "It's too little." ”

Fu Shangrui said: "My lord, the soldiers of Longwu and Shaowu are all taken from Guangdong. Ding Chukui was reckless again. Guangdong is already tired, and the new dynasty is the time to win the hearts of the people, so it is not appropriate to do more recruitment. It is levied according to the past, and the rest of the people is the first. However, the military resources of the army, the subordinate officers can still think of a way. ”

Zhang Xuan said: "What way? ”

"Apportionment to the gentry." Fu Shangrui said.

"Forget it." Zhang Su said: "It doesn't have to be like this. If the hearts of the people of Guangdong are not decided, will the morale be decided? Back then, King Chuang said that the tax exemption would be three years, and the world would follow. Now we are in difficulty and cannot do this, but we must also be different from the previous Ming Dynasty and collect taxes according to the regular tax. Keep an eye on the officials. I have done this for the benefit of the people of Guangdong, not for their benefit. Master Fu, you personally watched this matter, killed a group of people, showed the wind of the new dynasty, and also filled the hole. ”

Fu Shangrui comprehended and said, "Xiaguan understands. ”

The so-called officials have no feudalism, and officials have feudalism. The officials in various places are passed down from generation to generation, from father to son, and son to grandson. The common people generally do not deal with the yamen, and once they do, it is an opportunity for these people to get up and down. The so-called eat the plaintiff and eat the defendant.

After a lawsuit, both the plaintiff and the defendant went bankrupt, and they were the only ones who made a fortune.

This is not just a matter of what it is, then it is a tax, what big bucket is in and out of a small bucket, what kicking is sharp, what is fire consumption, and it is not a trick to say that it is not good. He even bullied the people for not being able to read and write and filled out tax stamps indiscriminately. Let the people pay repeatedly. If yes, etc. Knocking on the bones and sucking the marrow, all kinds of evil deeds are indescribable. It's extremely ugly to eat.

Since the beginning of the righteous army, there have been those who have spared good officials. But meet these officials. There is only one way to do it, and that is to kill.

It can be said that the common people hate it to the core. There are ten kills of ten, and there may be wrongdoers, but if there are ten kills of nine, there must be fish that slip through the net.

Moreover, the political status of these people is very low, and the gentry look down on them, and there will be no backlash if they are killed. If Zhang Xuan was given time, he would definitely find a way to get rid of the Xu official system. But now there is no time, and it is always right to kill.

This group of people is quite wealthy anyway. In the Qing Dynasty, a small official in the household department had a million family properties in his family, and it is needless to say where this property came from. But if there is a leader and a leader in the county, and there are not thousands of taels of silver at home, it will not be like words.

And dozens of counties in Guangdong were swept away, to say the least, there were hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

Zhang Xuan silently calculated, with these hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, Guangdong will be able to support it for a while, not to mention the taxes on the Hunan side. Zhang Xuan doesn't know how many there are. I think it shouldn't be much worse than Guangdong.

"What's the trick?" Zhang Xuan said: "While everyone is here, say it together and discuss it." ”

Fu Shangrui immediately said: "There is one thing that I have to report to the general." ”

"What?" Zhang Xuan said.

Fu Shangrui said: "As the general said, the Guangdong people are not attached. The lower officials investigated that there were Kuang Lu and other scholars among the people of Guangdong, and they often gathered, and slandered the dynasty, remembering the former Ming Dynasty and resisting the government. Therefore, among the Cantonese scholars, it is often said that they do not eat Xia Lu. The general was also asked to show how to deal with this matter. ”

Luo Dai snorted coldly and said, "Don't eat Xia Lu." Just let him not eat in the future? ”

Whoever doesn't need to eat, of course, is dead.

Zhang Xuan smiled and said: "What are the words of Confucianism? Kill him and dirty my knife, just leave him alone. It's up to him to go. ”

Fu Shangrui said: "The general is magnanimous, and the lower officials think that they should invite the imperial court to open the imperial examination as soon as possible." Gather the hearts of the scholars of the newly settled land. ”

Zhang Xuan smiled slightly and said, "This idea is good. ”