In mid-July, summer crops, summer taxes, and summer grain purchases finally came to an end. Officials from all prefectures and counties breathed a sigh of relief. This year, the new tax system came to power, and the princes traveled back and forth between the people of the prefectures and counties all day long. Who among the officials from all prefectures and counties dared to hide in the yamen to escape the summer heat.

During this period, the prince even transferred the civilians who built cities and roads in Liaodong and the Unity Army that assisted in the defense. The village soldiers were redirected to various places to help harvest and plant seeds.

Li Jing returned from Qizhou on the 13th and arrived at Gaoyuan County, Zizhou, along the Jishui River in the Yellow River, Zibo, which is in the Ji River. Gaoyuan and the other aspects are very good. The matters of harvesting, planting, and taxing and summer grain have been done. Gaoyuan's county magistrate Luo Ye, the magistrate of Bihe County of Jizhou, and Luo Qiu, the county magistrate of Haicheng County of Anzhou, were called the Sanluo of Jiangdong. Luo Yin was the first to join Li Jing and together with Sikong Tu and others, they were called the Four Sages. Luo Yin recommended Luo Ye to Li Jing. After Li Jing met him, he personally asked him to serve as the magistrate of Gaoyuan County.

When Li Jing first arrived at Gaoyuan City, he moved into the post office. Luo Yin had already brought several officials from the county, as well as Wang Dong, the general of the county garrison, and his officers were also brought to pay homage to him in neat military uniforms.

Seeing Wang Dong, one of the ten teenagers who left the village together, led a group of officers to come. He was wearing majestic armor, his heroic face was not as tender as before, and his two short beards on his lips were very imposing. Seeing this subordinate from the same village, Li Jing smiled happily and patted his shoulder, "Last time I saw the official document from Li Sima, I will transfer you to serve as the general of the army in Gaoyuan Town. I haven't seen you for a long time. The longer I grow, the more powerful you become."

Luo Ye stood aside, and had no other thoughts about Li Jing being so eager to be with Wang Dong as soon as he came up. He had known for a long time that this Wang Dong, the town general who was in Gaoyuan and his civil and military service, had a great background. Although he was only a commander of a thousand people, he was a village of the prince. And he was one of the ten companions who accompanied the prince when he left the village to join the army. It can be said that he has been following the footsteps of the prince over the years. In terms of qualifications, he can even be compared with the several sworn brothers of the prince.

However, this fellow prince has always been relatively low-key and has never heard him personally talk about things related to the prince. After he arrived, he was devoted to training troops and had strict military disciplines under his rule. He never caused trouble for him as a county magistrate. Although the two were in the same county, they had no personal relationship. However, from the bottom of his heart, Luo Ye still liked this colleague very much.

"Wang Zhenye is indeed powerful. A few days ago, a group of Dizhou horse thieves came from Hebei and wanted to rob the county grain warehouse. They thought they were secretly in their whereabouts. In fact, they had already learned about it by Wang Zhenye. A general came up with a plan and set up an ambush in front of the grain station, capturing more than 100 horse thieves in one net. Without hurting a brother, they captured 128 horse thieves alive, seized more than 100 knives and guns, and more than 200 horses."

After what happened that day, the county government and the town government sent letters to the general's office, but Li Jing has been traveling to various counties these days and has not received this letter yet.

Li Jing was very happy to hear that Wang Dong made this contribution. Not only was he happy that he had captured a group of horse thieves, but he also had to deal with the horse thieves. He had killed all the thieves in one fell swoop, but he did not hurt a soldier. He was able to achieve such a record, and his soldiers were indeed good.

"Beautiful job!" Li Jing laughed.

Wang Dong smiled slightly, "It's just a hundred horse thieves who are overestimating their abilities. In February, the prince took over several prefectures in Liaodong in just a few months. The Bohai people ceded land and paid compensation for peace, which made us very impressed."

Li Jing invited a number of county officials into the hospital at his post office, placed tables and chairs under the shade of the big locust trees, and asked someone to send tea.

After chatting with a few people, Li Jing was very satisfied with the two teams of Gao Yuan's civil and military. In fact, the Xiaoqisi had a special bureau to supervise officials from various prefectures and counties under their jurisdiction. From the reports they submitted, Li Jing also knew that Luo Yin and Wang Dong of Gaoyuan County were doing well, with peace of place and orderly production. There was no chaos in the territory of bandits, and even clan fighting. As for corruption, there was no situation.

Wang Dong is an old subordinate of his village. Although his official position is not high compared to Wang Shi and others, his personality is very reliable.

As for Luo Ye, he was originally from Yuhang. His father was an iron salt official and his family had a huge fortune. Luo Ye was extremely talented and had a long history of disciplined poetry. He was outstanding in his writing, and his spirit was extraordinary. He was known as a poet and tiger. However, during the Xiantong period, he failed many times. So far, he was over fifty years old. After Luo Yin recommended him, Li Jing met in person and was appointed as the magistrate of Gaoyuan County. After taking office, he felt the kindness of his gratitude, which was very attentive.

Luo Ye was wearing a green robe, but it was a little white and looked very old. He had a deep Sichuan pattern on his forehead, his face was tanned by the sun, and his waist was a little hunched. It was exquisitely cared for by the beard when he met in Dengzhou last time, and his silk shirt and sword style were completely different. He did not look like a literati in front of him, but he looked like a hard-working old farmer. In just over half a year, there had been such a big change.

After chatting for a long time, it was lunch time. Li Jing left everyone to have a meal together. The officials were very excited and were very restricted in the meal. After the meal, Li Jing left Luo Ye to talk alone.

"What do Luo Mingfu think about the newly implemented tax law? Do you have any suggestions?" Li Jing asked about his opinions on the new tax. In recent times, whenever he arrived at a place, Li Jing always asked others about the new tax law, whether it was an ordinary citizen or a civil servant.

Although Luo Ye is known as a poet and tiger, he is over fifty years old and has a rich experience. Although he has not been an official for a long time, he is also quite a bit of a talent in Gaoyuan. He heard Li Jing ask, and smiled and said to Li Jing: "After the implementation of this new tax law, it is indeed simple. It is divided into acres, and the tax is integrated into one, and only the tax collection is collected is only collected. In fact, it saves a lot of effort in our local counties and eliminates the possibility of corruption among the people below. As a county chief, from the perspective of the government, the new tax law is simpler than the two tax law."

"There is one below, but what?" Li Jing asked with a chuckling."

Luo Ye was seen through by Li Jing and smiled a little embarrassedly, "However, this tax is set very low, both land tax and commercial tax are thirty taxes. Especially the land tax is thirty taxes per mu according to the standard of one stone per mu. Only three liters and three pounds of grain per mu, but only about four kilograms of grain. At present, our entire ten prefectures and fifteen counties only have 10 million mu of land, and the money collected in summer can only buy 1,000 kilograms of grain, but only more than 80,000 s of grain. Even if there is autumn tax, it is too small to add up."

"Thirty-one tax is not small," Li Jing replied directly while pinching his chin.

Luo Ye was not surprised by Li Jing's answer, "The general can do nothing but a vain, which is a kindness to the people. This is a good thing, a act of loving the people. However, I was worried about how the vassal states raise officials and army, and also run schools, and even spend a large amount of money to subsidize prices every year. If the general's mansion cannot support it because there is no tax, the new tax will not last long at that time, and for the people, it will be the worst result."

He paused and said, "The land tax is thirty and one tax, and I also support it. After all, the tax is lower, which is a move to love the people. However, the tax is increased and miscellaneous fees plus the Yao service fee, one acre is considered nine cents. This is really too little. After the new tax, the road construction will not be levied for free, and workers must be employed. Ten million acres are only 90 million acres, and the total amount is only 90,000 guan. This money cannot do anything. After the two taxes, the best years of the imperial court, each household will have to pay taxes per year on average. Now, a household only has six or seven hundred cents a year. The tax revenue is too small, and it is difficult to maintain expenses."

Li Jing gently turned the teacup and said seriously: "I have considered all these. Now we have ten states, and there will be no more major war movements in a short period of time. We need time and development. How can we develop, how can we attract more people, and how can we actively reclaim wasteland and farmland? I think Qingyao and Bofu are the most important things to do."

"A man cannot be hungry and cannot be worn out in a body, and his skin cannot be worn out. Even if a kind mother cannot protect her son, how can I have the people? Everything must be based on the principle. The country is based on people and people are based on food!"

Looking at Luo Ye, Li Jing asked, "Now that Liaodong has just been settled, the ten states will enter a rare time of peace. What is the way to survive?"

Luo Ye immediately replied: "The way to rebirth lies in being kind and kind."

Li Jing nodded, "If you don't do practical benefits, and say that you are generous and kind is useless. Being generous and kind must be used to enrich the people's wealth and sacrificing the people's strength. If you don't save money, the people's wealth will be exhausted; if you don't save money, the people's strength will be scared; if you don't understand education, the people will not know etiquette; if you can't stop violence, the people will not be able to live a life. In this way, you say lenient and kindness will only have a name but the people will not be betrayed."

When he heard Luo Ye was worried that the new tax law was too lenient and kind, Li Jing immediately corrected and said, "Get it with lenient and hear it. If it is lenient and lose it, you have never heard of it. If it is stubborn, you will be able to measure it. If it is stubborn, you will be chaotic. The way to stay in the upper hand should be used to use leniency, but if it is leniency, you will be able to gain people. Don't say it is leniency. Liaodong has new stability, and the people will be leniency. People are both in financial difficulties, like birds flying first and trees are planted first, do not pull out their feathers, and do not shake their roots. However, only honest people can make arrangements and love others, and those who are greedy must be leniency to nourish themselves. People are like trees, trees are beneficial to the soil for their birth, people are beneficial to food for their nourishment, and nourish the people for their benefits, and they are planted trees to remove their land. People are trapped in heavy rents, but officials do not know how to care for them, and they value taxes and neglect them, and they are just afraid that people will bear furs and carry firewood, and they only cherish their hair. They do not know that they have no hair and have no hair. How can they raise the people?"

After hearing Li Jing's words, Luo Ye nodded.

"Actually, you don't have to worry too much. The reason why I dare to set such a low tax is actually because we have never collected this money before. From the beginning to the end, whether it is a three-in-one or a five-in-one, we have never collected taxes from the people. We have come to this day, not on their taxes, but on our own workshops, caravans, and the money and grains seized by our army."

"The ten states are mostly newly built wild lands, and what we are waiting for is development. It is difficult to directly see the benefits by investing only energy sources in a short time. What we need now is to help us develop Liaodong, rather than rushing to kill chickens and get eggs. Since we don't really need that little tax, why not lower the taxes so as to win the support of the people and attract more people? Even if we want to build roads, cities and water conservancy, we used to use labor for relief, or directly hiring workers. Therefore, the Yao service that everyone hates is abolished and only symbolizes the collection of a few cents of money for the people to earn a mu of money. What's wrong with it?"

"If we plant sycamore trees well, we will naturally attract golden phoenixes. When all the prefectures in Liaodong are developed, we are still afraid of no income. Let me tell you that the iron ore in Liaodong accounts for half of the world, the gold ore in Ziqing accounts for one-third of the world, and there are various minerals. When we build both sides of the Liao River, there is a huge plain. If we develop it, it is equivalent to a Huainan. If we look at it for a long time, we will have everything."
Chapter completed!