[Rebirth] Emperor Yonggao Ji

Chapter 92

"Old man, is this year's harvest good?" Wang Sheng was wearing normal clothes, with only Li Jiu behind him, walking in the field ridge, saw a farmer who looked over 60 years old, and asked with a smile.

The old man sighed, and put down the burden on his shoulders, "If the harvest is not harvested, the boys and girls have gone to war, so how can anyone cultivate the land?"

"Come on, old man, sit down and talk." Wang Sheng pulled him to sit down and sighed, "Yes, the past two years have seen too many wars, and I saw a lot of deserted land along the way..."

"Isn't it?" The old man nodded, "Our village has a population of more than 100, and all the men have been dragged to the battlefield to fight. Even a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old child can't run away. That's me, I'm getting old, and my feet have problems. This is the only way to stay. The village is full of women and children, and people like me, how can we grow this land? It’s fine on weekdays, but when it was busy in autumn a while ago, it was really exhausting!"

"Is the harvested food enough?"

"This year's weather is good, the land is good, and the grain harvested is enough for me to eat. Hey...but it seems that I have to pay the grain again. If I want to keep it for myself, where can I get food for the government?"

Wang Sheng was stunned for a moment, then asked with a smile: "Now the government is under the control of the Yong State, right? I heard that the emperor of the Yong State issued an order a while ago, saying that several counties near Taiyuan will be exempted from all taxes this year and next. Why, you haven't paid any taxes?" Have you heard?"

"Can he, Yongguo, have such a good heart?" The old man looked him up, "I think you seem to be a person who can read, go to the county seat and look at the list posted on it, it clearly states, when will this year's tax be How much to charge? I heard someone read it, so I know it clearly.”

Wang Sheng still smiled, "Okay, then I'll go to the county to have a look. But, old man, I'm not afraid to tell you that I just came from Taiyuan, and there is a special notice in Taiyuan saying that this year's taxes will be [-]%. no."

"It's all free, it's all for the higher-ups to see! Should they be collected or not? You have only one person left in your family because of the war. At the end of the year, how much food should be paid, and how much food has to be paid."

Wang Sheng sighed, "So many people died in the war, and the tax is still collected on the basis of the original head, the pressure on every household will be great."

"Well, I think you are also a sensible person," the old man said, "It's always been this way. In the county, the income is collected according to the village, and in the village, the income is collected according to the head of each household. In this war, which family has to die? Who? If more people die in the family, they can no longer pay taxes. What can we do? Then we have to run away! Once this person runs away, the number of people in the village will decrease. Once the number of people in the village decreases, each family will have to pay more. , If you pay more, then there will be more households who can’t afford it? If they can’t afford it, they all run away, and the rest of the people can’t afford it, so we can only run together, and everyone will run away. and the village will be empty."

Wang Sheng was silent for a long time, then suddenly smiled and said, "Old man, have you seen so many of them?"

"That's too much! You're a foreigner, I don't know, the war is in turmoil right now, people, the dead are dead, the run away, look, look—" He stood up and pointed to Wang Sheng. Pointing to the surrounding wasteland, "This good land is deserted, and the days to come will be really difficult."

Wang Sheng also stood up, "The battle is over, everyone should come back, and the days to come will be more relaxed. Old man, I heard you just said, 'Yong Guo can have such a kind heart', it seems that there is a lot of distrust, but I don't know what is the reason?"

"Hey, how can there be any trust or distrust? The old man has lived to this age, looking at the sky above, I don't know how many times it has changed. Now that Yong Kingdom is calling, I will be a Yong person, but I can move forward Counting a month, I was still a Zhao person, ten or eight years before that, I was a Zhou person again, and counting forward, the old man, I was a Xia person, a Liang person... you say we How many heads can a person hold? The sky above has changed again and again, but the cloud above has never changed. Pay the money, pay the money, tax-free, where do you know the money is paid? Who is it for? The emperor’s surname is Liu and Shi. What does it have to do with us? The old man’s three sons were all arrested and served as soldiers. , and worked for the ruler of the Yong Kingdom. I don’t know which country will die in the future. I have been guarding this piece of land and not leaving. Not home. Hey, the people of Yong killed my son, but now I am also a person of Yong, hehe, hehe..."

He waved his hand suddenly, "Don't say it, don't say it. I can't think clearly, and I can't explain clearly. Nothing is better than living well by myself."

Wang Sheng was speechless for a while when he heard the words, but suddenly he looked a little dazed, thinking of something.The left hand subconsciously touched the side of the waist, but forgot to remove Liu Fu's sword and put it in the government office before going out.Seeing that he had lost his voice, the old man packed up his things by himself.

After a while, Wang Sheng collected himself and smiled, "The court has exempted the tax for the past two years. When everyone returns to the field, there is no need to fight. The most difficult time is over, and the future will be better. Old man, Up to 20 years... No, in another ten years, this place will definitely be in a prosperous state."

"Prosperity?" The old man suddenly seemed to hear a strange term, which made him laugh involuntarily, as if Wang Sheng had just told a joke.He has lived for so long and has been a survivor of the four dynasties, but "prosperous age" is still a strange word for him.

"Yes, Shengshi." Wang Sheng looked at him, but he didn't seem to be looking at him, his tone was firm, a bit decisive.

The old man picked up the things on his shoulders with a "hey" sound, and his thin back was bent into an arch, "That's not something my old man has to worry about. It's hard to say whether I can live until then. Anyway, this year I need to pay the food, hey, after paying the food, I will save it for planting next year, what is left? I can live a day is a day..."

Wang Sheng watched him go away, the smile on his face gradually faded, and he said to the people behind him: "Go, let's go to the county town to have a look."

At night, Wang Sheng sat in the government office of Taiyuan, summoned the chiefs of the surrounding counties all night, and took a note on the case, "The imperial court ordered that Zhao's taxes be exempted for two years, and the various taxes written on it what's going on?"

Seeing several county magistrates and county lieutenants faltering and saying nothing, Wang Sheng said coldly: "If you amend the imperial edict without authorization, do you think my court of Dayong is in vain?"

A few people hurriedly said that they didn't dare.Wang Sheng's eyes fell on one person, "Magistrate of Qingyuan County, please tell me, this notice was taken down in your Qingyuan County."

With just one glance, the county magistrate of Qingyuan knelt down tremblingly, "My lord, how dare I go against the imperial court? I really, really have difficulties..."

"I know you have difficulties, otherwise I wouldn't sit here and try it myself." Wang Sheng calmed down, but his eyes were still fixed on him, "You tell me your difficulties—but, if there are any omissions, We can only go to the big prison and talk about it.”

A group of people were released only when they were ugly, and they felt as if they had been peeled off, sweating profusely and tearing.Sitting in front of the case, Wang Sheng also looked pale. After pressing his stomach for a while, he picked up his pen and said to his back, "Call Si Nong over here."

Li Jiu reminded in a low voice: "My lord, it's three quarters of the ugly time." Wang Sheng is not the prime minister now, he can't call him the same as before, but he doesn't want to change his name to Fu Yin, so he simply called "My lord".

"The tea is cold." Wang Sheng said without raising his head.

Li Jiu had no choice but to ask someone to call quickly, while pouring out the tea on the case and giving him a cup of hot tea.

Sinonong Zhao Jin trotted in sleepily, and was still tidying up his hat when he entered the door. Seeing Wang Sheng's expression was uneasy, he quickly stood up straight and asked, "I don't know why Mr. Fu Yin summoned you late at night, why?"

Wang Sheng briefly told him about his daytime visits, and finally asked: "Is Sinong really ignorant of these situations, or is he aware of them and not talking about them?"

This was clearly asking him if he was in a daze or if he was lying. Zhao Jin had just heard the news and hadn't had time to prepare for it. The official is not yet clear about this matter, but rest assured, my lord, the next official will definitely investigate and will not tolerate it!"

"I don't know about this?" Wang Sheng's expression remained unchanged, and he threw a piece of paper on the case at his feet, "This is what the surrounding county magistrates told me, and I just sorted it out. Sinong will take a look."

Zhao Jin quickly picked it up, the more she looked at it, the more sweat grew on her face.Wang Cheng said slowly: "The house is leaky at the bottom, but it is at the top; the leaks at the top are endless, and the bottom is uninhabitable. These counties have such problems. The problem is not with these county magistrates, but with the top. Zhao Si Nong, do you understand what I mean?"

"Your official understands." Zhao Jin knew that he was transparent, so he didn't dare to lie, and said carefully: "My lord, please forgive me for the official's slip of the tongue. Indeed... this has always been the case. All the ministers have quotas every year, after all... After all, it has been agreed upon, if this year suddenly no taxes are collected, how many people will be there..."

"How many people's pockets can't be filled?" Wang Sheng said coldly: "The refugees below are rampant, and the top wants to pay lightly and poorly, but these people in the middle are only concerned with squeezing the money from the people and putting it into their own pockets. Why, It's only been 20 years, have you forgotten how the previous dynasty died?"

Although Zhao Jin felt that it had nothing to do with her being a small farmer regardless of the past and present, whether it was up or down, but she didn't dare to show any contempt at Wang Sheng's words, and could only obediently said, "My lord taught me the lesson."

Wang Sheng looked at him, "Si Nong thinks that the law does not blame the public?"

Zhao Jin hurriedly said: "The lower officials have no such intentions! It's just that this matter involves a lot, so I would like to ask your lord to make it clear that this matter... how much should be arrested and how much should be let go?"

"Naturally, it is ten points. If you are not good at doing things, I will ask Shaoyin to help you. I will draw up the text tonight. Starting tomorrow, the two of you will start investigating the matter. Anyone involved in the matter will be derogatory according to the draft." , then hand it over to me."

Seeing Wang Sheng's frail figure, Zhao Jin didn't take it seriously at first, but he didn't expect him to act so vigorously, like a hurricane, which was about to disturb Taiyuan Mansion.He was stunned for a moment when he heard the words, and then said: "My lord, please forgive me for saying bluntly, if you catch ten points, there will be no one left in the entire Taiyuan Mansion."

"Are you afraid that the officials will be dissatisfied and want to raise an incident in Taiyuan to rebel against the court?" Seeing Zhao Jin's silence, Wang Sheng closed his eyes slightly, paused for a moment, and said slowly: "I visited various counties and saw many people in the suburbs of Taiyuan. The place is already empty, or even empty, and taxes are collected, but the original method is still followed. In this way, the tax on each person has doubled or even five times the original. If the imperial court ignores it again, within a few years, the refugees will cause chaos. Once the people gather in the mountains and forests, they will surely fall apart. On the other hand, a few mediocre officials make chaos, but a captain can calm them down. Comparing the two, what is ringworm and scabies? How can the imperial court not know about the troubles in the heart?"

Zhao Jin understood what Wang Sheng meant in an instant.Zhao Guo and Yong Guo fought for years, and when Taiyuan was captured, there were almost no troops. Now the troops stationed in the states are all Yong troops, who are directly under the command of Wang Sheng and are not yet under the jurisdiction of the governors of the states. Wang Sheng firmly controls With military power, his waist is naturally tough. He is telling himself that he is not afraid of officials making trouble, and he must get this done.

Wang Sheng had just taken office, and wanted to give Zhao Ren a disgrace, he also understood, but all the offending people fell on him, Zhao Jin said with a bitter face: "My lord, the next official is just a farmer—"

Wang Sheng interrupted: "If you continue to evade, even Sinong will not be able to do it."

"Yes!" Wang Sheng's eyes were so cold that no one dared to stare at him.Zhao Jin's heart shuddered, and she quickly responded.

After Zhao Jin left, it was already Yin time, Li Jiu saw that Wang Sheng didn't intend to go to bed yet, and was still leaning over the desk, not knowing what he was writing, so he went forward to brighten the oil lamp for him.While thinking, Wang Sheng wrote slowly. His left hand, which had been pressing on his stomach, changed from pressing to pinching at some point.After he had finally drawn up the text, he realized that he was sweating all over, his stomach ached so badly that he didn't have the strength to stand up. After writing for a long time, his unhealed right hand trembled slightly.

"My lord, do you want to rest on the bed for a while?" Li Jiu has been watching by the side. Seeing Wang Sheng nodding, he helped him up, led him slowly to the bed, and took off his shoes, "I See how stupid you are, let Chef Dong make some porridge, I haven't eaten for a day."

Wang Sheng nodded again, and Li Jiu left, leaving him alone in the room.He couldn't lie flat, so he had to lie on his side, curled up slightly, closed his eyes and thought about things.Not long after, when Li Jiu came back with the porridge in his hands, Wang Sheng was sweating again. He only took a bite with the spoon, and felt his stomach churn, so he asked him to remove the porridge.

Wang Sheng closed his eyes and lay down again, "I'll rest for a while, and ask Shao Yin to come see me at [-]:[-]."

Li Jiu silently calculated that there was only more than an hour left, and he didn't dare to raise any objections, so as not to delay another hour and a half, he hurriedly blew out the candles.

When Yin Fuxiu, the young man of Taiyuan Mansion, arrived, Wang Sheng was already sitting in front of the case in full clothes, waiting for him, with a solemn expression, a bit calm and prestige, just holding a small red hand stove in his arms.He felt that there was a great contrast between this hand stove and Wang Sheng, but he only glanced at it, then looked away, and said respectfully, "Why is your lord calling me down?"

Wang Sheng went straight to the point, "The imperial court ordered that Zhao land be exempted from taxes for two years, but all the localities have defied the imperial court and collected taxes privately. I have ordered Sinong to thoroughly investigate this matter. If there is any inconvenience, Shao Yin's full support is needed. "

Fu Xiu replied: "Yes, I will do my best."

"I'm afraid there are such phenomena in every state, and you need to send special personnel to investigate. You are responsible for this matter." Wang Sheng held the stove in his hand, his fingers were almost bloodless, "In addition, there are many refugees in various places, and the land is seriously abandoned. The population needs to be checked again. , land, you also sent someone to handle it, and you must give me the results before the spring of next year."

"In a few days, I will write to the imperial court to allocate some money to resettle the refugees and pay for the dead. When this winter is over and it is time for the spring planting, if there are still refugees in any state or county that have not been resettled on the land, I will send them to the court. Pursue responsibility from the bottom up, all the way to me.”

After hearing what he said, Fu Xiu hesitated and said, "My lord, is this... too urgent?"

"Of course the imperial court is not in a hurry, but the people can't wait all winter." Wang Sheng paused suddenly as he spoke, his fingers curled up on the edge of the stove, and he continued after a while: "I'm here, I'm afraid I won't exceed One year, after I leave, the imperial court will assess whether you will be promoted or demoted, and it will all depend on how you conduct yourself. I will make a start, and the rest will be up to you to take care of yourself."

Fu Xiu heard the meaning of encouragement and exhortation in his words, and from his voice, he understood that after Wang Sheng left, the highest official of Taiyuan Mansion was hand-picked by himself, and his future depends entirely on Taiyuan, so he couldn't help but feel a little nervous Lin, both excited and frightened, said: "Don't worry, my lord, I will do my best as an official."

"Since Shaoyin said this, I feel relieved." Wang Sheng smiled.

"Thank you for your advice, my lord," Fu Xiu bowed to him, "I'll make arrangements right now, my lord."

After Fu Xiu left, Wang Sheng suppressed his smile, closed his eyes, lowered his head and endured a while of discomfort.He touched the small hand stove in his arms, sighed lightly, and then his face became stern——

The slanting sun penetrates the void, and a thread of ten thousand flies!

After a while, he stood up leaning on the table, and ordered: "Prepare the car, and go to the military office of the recorder."

Over the past winter, Wang Sheng has been traveling between states, personally urging them to exempt from taxes, check the population, and resettle them into fields. Zhao's land is too vast, and he didn't return to Taiyuan until the beginning of the year.I don't know if it's because the winter in Zhaodi is too cold, or because he's too busy running around, or because of some other reason, his abdominal disease has been intermittent, and it doesn't get better. No matter whether he takes medicine or acupuncture, he just can't stop the pain.When spring came, seeing last year's clothes getting bigger again, even he himself couldn't help sighing, not knowing how to explain it when he went back in the future.

Fortunately, by the time of spring planting, several urgent problems had been almost resolved. He looked at the wider belt, and thought of the phrase "Although I look thin, I will be fat all over the world", and thought it made sense.

But before he could breathe a sigh of relief, the imperial court sent troops south to compete for Xiangyang, and the grain and grass were transported from Chang'an and Luoyang.Although Wang Sheng was far away in Taiyuan, he kept an eye on the south side all the time, fearing that Yuan Mu and others had never independently presided over the food and grass work in the rear, and the supply of food and grass would not be enough, putting the frontline army in danger, so he wrote a letter to them.He received the salary of Taiyuan's governor, but he still cared about the prime minister's heart. Fortunately, he didn't worry about it for too long. The news of Xiangyang's success spread to Taiyuan. A poem made on a horse.Liu Fu originally had no intention of letting Wang Sheng know, but the good-for-nothings scrambled to flatter each other, and spontaneously announced "The King's New Work" to the world, half to make fun of it, and half to please it and blow it to the sky.

Wang Sheng was eating at that time, and he was busy with government affairs. He always ate less and was in a hurry. When he heard such a poem, he couldn't help but stopped laughing and said, "Read it and listen to it."

Li Jiu lowered his head and began to read.After finishing the reading, he looked up and saw Wang Sheng's face was slightly pale, and he suppressed his smile. He couldn't help beating his heart, and didn't turn the corner for a while. The poems written by the king of Xindao are good after all. I don't know why Wang Sheng showed such a an expression.He looked down again to confirm that he hadn't mispronounced any words, and couldn't help asking: "My lord, is there anything wrong with this poem?"

Wang Sheng shook his head, and gently stroked his stomach with one hand.Li Jiu saw that he had seen many illnesses these days, and had experience, so he knew that he would not eat again, so he withdrew the food.After he came back, he saw Wang Sheng throwing up again while leaning over the desk. Since they came to Hedong, this was the first time.Wang Sheng refused to let him pat his back, so he had to prepare a glass of clear water and wait aside. Seeing that the rice he spit out was still mixed with blood, he couldn't help worrying: "My lord, how long has it been, and the redness hasn't stopped yet. Wait." After returning to Chang'an this time, tell the king to rest for a while."

After Wang Sheng vomited, he covered his mouth with a handkerchief, closed his eyes and remained silent for a while.Li Jiu knew that he must be doing this because of the poem just now, but he couldn't figure out what it was, and it was impossible to ask, so he had doubts, cleaned up the floor, and silently closed the door and went out.

Not half an hour after leaving the house, he suddenly saw Li Qi, and couldn't help being surprised: "Old Qi, why are you here?"

"Nonsense!" Li Qi laughed, "Didn't the king tell me to come, so I dare to run around by myself?"

"Did your majesty ask you to bring any letter? But it must be good news." Li Jiu lowered his voice and whispered in Li Qi's ear: "My lord is suffering from a stomachache. I just vomited, and I took such a bite of the meal. , I vomited it all out, and I may not be able to eat or not for the next meal."

"Ah?" Li Qi was surprised, "I don't know what the king wrote." He thought for a while, and suddenly smiled, "It's okay, I saw the letter when the king handed it to me, so I knew it must be nothing. Bad thing... Your Excellency is in this room, right?"

Li Jiuqi said, "Huh? Wait, what is it like?"

Li Qi stood up straight, reached out and handed the letter to Li Jiu, stroked his mustache, and coughed, "Go, deliver this letter to Taiyuan Yin in person."

Li Jiu cooperatively raised his hand to accept it, but Li Qi didn't let go, still holding on to the letter tightly.After a stalemate for a while, Li Qi rolled his eyes to the side, "Tell him...forget it, don't say anything, he will naturally understand after seeing it."

After finishing speaking, he let go of his hand and asked Li Jiu to take the letter, then raised his hand and patted his cheeks, then added in his own voice, "The face is about the same color."

Li Jiu couldn't hold back, and burst out laughing with a "poof", "If the king knows, won't you skin your skin when you go back? That's fine, I'll send a letter to your lord."

"Hey, I'll go in with you!"

When the two entered the door, Wang Sheng was silently looking at the sword that he almost never left his body, thinking of something. There was a congratulatory form on the table, and the ink was still wet.Li Qi said in a low voice: "My lord, the king ordered his subordinates to send a letter, saying that I want my lord to open it."

Wang Sheng took it and squeezed it for a while before opening it.As soon as it was opened, before the letter paper could be taken out, two wild goose feathers fell out of it, and fell lightly on the ground.He picked up the feather from the ground in some confusion, held it in his hand, and then opened the letter. There was only a short sentence on it:

Xiangyang has recovered and will return to Chang'an soon.Seeing the swan geese crossing south, falling on the plume and feathers, the center is leisurely, so I present it to you.

Wang Sheng spread out his palm, looked at the two feathers inside, and slowly tightened his hand.He closed his eyes, sighed, and smiled again a moment later.This is Liu Fu asking him: "The wild geese have gone home, when will you come back?"