Chapter 222 Gu Changxiao, the Killer in Chang'an Yan
Shiyi almost choked on the tomato juice: "Do you dare to say this in front of the officials in the refugee camp?"
Jin Sui smiled and said, "Why shouldn't I dare? You should ask them first, do they dare to listen? Do they dare to refute after hearing it?"
Yan Shiyi pondered for a moment and nodded, "Really? No one dares to listen to you even if you dare to say it! I feel a little sorry for your majesty."
Fan Jinsui choked: "Why should I sympathize with Your Majesty?"
Yan Shiyi muttered quietly: "Marrying such a fierce wife..."
Jinsui took a step forward: "What did you say?"
Yan Shiyi quickly changed his words: "I didn't say anything."
He is also the type who dares not refute even when hearing something.
"I really admire you. How did you come up with this idea to rule the officials in Chang'an? Look at the newcomers. I heard about the officials in the refugee camp. They are all very honest."
Jin Sui smiled and said, "What's the big deal? To be honest, Huo Tiqi is the most experienced one. I didn't use the same tricks on him on these officials.
Let them go to the refugee camp, they are not hungry or cold, and they are all reluctant to go. Really, if all the officials from Chang'an are like this, they should just not come, and wait for our border city to hold the imperial examination and promote new officials. "
No matter how much he complained, Jinsui still had to be accommodated as officials from the six ministries arrived one after another.
In the blink of an eye, it was October. Gu Changxiao went even further. He actually ordered that as soon as half of the officials arrived at the border town, memorials should be sent to the nearest place. Jinsui would review them and then issue instructions to all officials.
How could this work? Jin Sui felt that she would be scolded to death by the censor! And she was already busy enough, and she was given such a job!
She selected high-ranking and capable officials from the six ministries to form a group to review memorials, with Cheng Yu as her deputy, and even Li Heng joined in, mainly because Li Heng was more familiar with the situation in Yan.
In this way, the censor would have no reason to scold her for being a hen that crows at dawn and for intervening in politics to seize power. If he wanted to scold her, he should scold all the members of the group as well. Of course, the one who should be scolded the most is your Majesty, because he was the one who acted recklessly first!
The Border Town started a mode of officialdom where life was in chaos and death was the key to changing the behavior of officials in Chang'an who were slow to handle affairs and various departments who shirked their responsibilities.
Under the leadership of Miss Ling, when memorials from local areas were delivered, their authenticity was first verified, and then a meeting was held to discuss solutions. If an imperial envoy was needed, he would be sent immediately.
There was no need to send an imperial envoy, just come up with a plan immediately and send the imperial edict to the local area. Yes, Gu Changxiao also gave Jinsui the power to write the imperial edict.
Although she had not yet been formally enthroned as the empress, her power was greater than that of all the empresses in previous dynasties.
She said to Cheng Yu privately: "Remember when you knew I was the fake Li King, you told me directly that you would support me if I wanted to be the real Li King?"
Cheng Yu laughed: "Of course I remember, that's what I really said!"
Jin Sui smiled and said, "Look at your Majesty, how much does he trust us? Isn't he afraid that we will rebel in the border town? Really, what is he busy with in Chang'an?"
What is Gu Changxiao busy with? Of course, he is busy killing people! He doesn't want to bring the murderous aura back to the border town, which should be a pure land.
It was like home there. When he returned, he would marry Sui Sui. The blood and killing would all be left to Chang'an! So he killed everyone who should be killed in Chang'an, because he was using extremely strict methods to implement the land reform.
The land reform system had little to do with petty officials, as they did not have much land in their hands. Therefore, Gu Changxiao sent those officials with clean backgrounds and no close ties with the gentry to the border towns in batches.
Let Jinsui set up the court there first, while he would stay in Chang'an and defeat the noble families, aristocratic families, and powerful people to make them spit out all the land they occupied.
Gu Changxiao's methods were too ruthless, giving the powerful and nobles the impression that he did not inherit the throne from the previous emperor, but was the one who destroyed the Jun Dynasty and founded a new monarch.
In short, the powerful wanted to shout to him, "Your Majesty, why are you rebelling?"
That's right, in the eyes of the powerful and the gentry, some of Gu Changxiao's policies were simply "rebellion", which changed the various policies established by the ancestors of the Jun family and shook the foundation of the country!
First, the land tax law was changed. Taxes were no longer collected based on the number of people, but rather based on the area of land.
Jin Sui's simple explanation is "equalizing the land tax and tax by the acreage" and "combining the land tax and tax into one", which abolished the poll tax that had existed for thousands of years.
The tax was levied based on the number of people, which put tremendous pressure on the lower classes of the people. Poor families were afraid to have many children, especially baby girls. In some places, the phenomenon of abandoning or drowning baby girls was extremely serious.
Although women only paid half the tax, there were too many girls in the family, so they ate more and the land produced less. Women were weak, so they could not do much work in the fields. They could not go out to work in public, so families with poor conditions did not dare to have baby girls.
Even if a baby girl is born and raised to a certain age, she will still be sold in years with poor harvests.
In the market, men would buy a girl, and an ordinary girl would only cost two taels of silver. If there was a disaster year, no silver was needed, and a bag of grain could be exchanged for her.
However, the price of a cow is between ten and twenty taels. Haha, this is the real bottom of society. Human life is worthless!
The Dante tax was nothing to the gentry. That little bit of tax was enough to pay for a meal.
However, the land they enclosed was land awarded by their ancestors, land with family merits, or land for sacrificial purposes, so the government could collect very little land tax.
The powerful and wealthy were even exempt from taxes as long as they paid tribute to the emperor every year.
Gu Changxiao used a very strict method to implement the system of allocating taxes to each acre from top to bottom. He started to collect taxes strictly during this autumn harvest.
For this reason, the royal family actually tried to unite and resist, but they did not dare to really rebel, because the Hu people had entered Chang'an and Prince Yu's party was defeated, and they had no soldiers left.
They can only use moral kidnapping, holding the token bestowed by the ancestors, the jade disc or the clan law, and ask Gu Changxiao, you are also surnamed Jun, we are also descendants of the Jun family, why are you treating us so harshly? According to the new law, we can't even have enough food to eat! Do you dare to go to the imperial mausoleum, face the ancestors of the Jun family, and tell them your new tax law?
Why wouldn't Gu Changxiao dare? Not only did he go to the imperial mausoleum, he also held a grand autumn harvest festival, announcing to the world that this year's autumn grain would be collected according to the new tax! Anyone who violates this rule will be executed! An old uncle who didn't know how many generations of bloodline he had, a royal relative, was pushed out and cried to the sky and the earth at the imperial mausoleum, saying that the descendants of the emperor's family were unfilial and would not give their relatives a way to live.
To be honest, Gu Changxiao's heart was filled with sadness at that moment. Even the royal family did not support his new policy. No wonder the gentry and the aristocratic families were so rampant!
He was also grateful. Fortunately, he knew Jinsui, fortunately he had the Black Feather Camp and fish oil and gunpowder as his trump cards, and fortunately the border town had abundant granaries for him to implement his iron-blooded new strategy.
Dig up this rotten imperial court and sow the seeds anew.
Using blood to blaze a new Yangkang Road, ushering in a new era for the entire Daxia royal family.
What made him even more fortunate was that he did not let Suisui come to Chang'an, otherwise Suisui would definitely not be able to bear it seeing him killing people every day.
These people know that Suisui is his weak spot, and they will try to take advantage of Suisui.
While thinking, the uncle finished crying, and Gu Changxiao asked him condescendingly: "Does the uncle not want to implement the new policy and disobey the order?"
His voice was calm, but the royal family members felt frightened when they heard it.
But soon they became emboldened again. In the imperial mausoleum, do you still want to kill members of the royal family?
Gu Changxiao didn't kill him, but the uncle was courting death: "If Your Majesty doesn't give the royal descendants a chance to live, I will hit my head against the royal mausoleum and sue my ancestors in the underworld!"
Gu Changxiao pointed at the stone tablet in front of the imperial mausoleum and said, "Then let the emperor's uncle bump into it and let me see it."
Until now, everyone still thinks that the two sides are trying to see who will give in.
The uncle glanced at the royal family members and signaled them to find the imperial physician immediately if they bumped into someone. Everyone understood and nodded to him.
Then he said passionately: "Ancestor, please make the decision for me!"
They hit their heads against the stone tablet and blood gushed out. The royal relatives immediately started shouting and wailing, trying to awaken Gu Changxiao's "conscience".
They wanted to go forward and lift up the old uncle, but they saw Gu Changxiao wave his hand, and a team of Black Feather Battalion came forward and surrounded them.
Gu Changxiao said in a very calm and indifferent tone: "I have said that if you do not follow the new policy, you will be disobeying my order.
Those who disobey his order will die! If you want to die with him, step forward. "
Everyone fell silent, watching the old uncle bleed more and more and his breathing become weaker and weaker, but no one dared to step forward.
In the end, the old uncle died in the imperial mausoleum as he wished, but it did not shake Gu Changxiao's determination to implement the land reform.
This is a golden opportunity! If we miss it, giving the gentry time to grow, and then slowly implementing the land reform system, it will cost more manpower and energy, and there will be more unrest!
More people will die then than now.
At least now, the common people were not killed. As for the rich and powerful and the nobles, Gu Changxiao saw clearly that they were parasites of the country and society, and they would die if they died.
The death of the old uncle made all the powerful people in Chang'an understand that His Majesty was determined to implement the land reform.
Unless His Majesty dies, they cannot keep their lands.
Unfortunately, Gu Changxiao was not so easy to kill. No matter how many gods they prayed to in secret, how many ways they thought of to assassinate him, or how many ways they instigated civil unrest, it was all in vain.
Spreading from Chang'an to the surrounding areas, the gentry and dignitaries of Lianming took the lead in expressing their loyalty, personally implementing the land reform, and sending every pound of autumn grain tax to the imperial granary.
There were also many people like the old emperor's uncle, who resisted. They held up the red-lettered iron certificates and rewards from the previous emperor, and resisted the tax collectors from entering their manors.
Then they witnessed the cruel methods of the new emperor. The Black Feather Camp came with gunpowder, and anyone who organized troops to resist would be executed for treason!
Those who laid down their weapons and surrendered would have their land confiscated and their entire family exiled to the border.
Of course, they were not sent to the border town, as that would be too easy for them. Instead, they were exiled to Hainan or the northwestern border.
As a result, the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan became a pure land, but soon the news of land reform also spread.
Yan Jiu had mentioned this to the Yandi nobles in advance, so they were mentally prepared. In addition, the Yandi nobles found that the output of land was far less than that of merchants. Whether it was trade with the northern border or the sea, the income was higher than that of land.
And with high-yield crops, the price of food was bound to fall. They wanted to convert the workforce from farmers to workers, so although there were some stubborn old nobles who opposed it, most of them did not use any force and successfully implemented the land reform.
Yan Jiu was in Chang'an. He watched Gu Changxiao implement the land reform with an iron fist. This kind of Gu Changxiao looked very unfamiliar to him.
When he was in the border town, he was completely two different people in front of Miss Ling.
He is decisive, domineering, and extremely powerful, but he also has great talent and strategy.
He has the style of Qin Shi Huang and Han Wudi.
This made the powerful people in Chang'an feel unfamiliar, because he was not like this when he was the crown prince.
I don't know what to say, being exiled to the border town has caused Your Majesty to shed a layer of skin and undergo a transformation.
Or maybe, the him in the border town was not the real him, and the him now is the him who has taken off the shackles.
The person who restrained his murderous nature was Jin Sui.
Yan Jiu kind of hoped that Gu Changxiao would quickly move the capital to the border town. Without Miss Ling around, His Majesty's murderous aura was too strong.
Not counting the number of people who died when the Hu people entered Chang'an and when Prince Yu's party was defeated, more than ten thousand people died in the implementation of the land reform alone.
Although new policy reforms are always bloody and are implemented at the cost of human lives, the fact that so many people died when an emperor implemented a new policy really makes people think that he is a tyrant!
There are obviously more gentle methods, like the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan. If Your Majesty had said last year that he wanted to implement land reform, 90% of the gentry would definitely rebel.
But this year, 90% of the nobles agreed immediately.
As long as the people in Chang'an see the development of the border towns, they will realize, like the gentry in the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan, that the future output of the land will not be that profitable.
Carrying out land reform will benefit future generations, but Your Majesty has no intention of doing so.
Yan Jiu sighed softly. The task assigned to him by His Majesty was to collect the autumn land tax from the sixteen states of Yan, which he had successfully completed.
But His Majesty did not plan to let him return to Yanzhou first. Yan Jiu felt a little sad. Could it be that His Majesty was still worried that he would snatch Miss Ling away at this point?
When they were at the Northern Frontier Royal Court, His Majesty climbed the sacred mountain where the king imprisoned Miss Ling with his bare hands, and the two of them flew out of the royal court.
At that moment, Yan Jiu knew very well that he was no longer qualified to express his love to Miss Ling...
Yan Twelve Niang came to him and said, "Brother, can you please talk to His Majesty and ask him not to let Han Xing confiscate the family property? Every time he comes back, the smell of blood on his body cannot be washed off."
Yan Jiu asked her in a low voice: "Do you dislike the smell of blood?"
Twelve Lady said loudly: "Of course not! I feel sorry for Han Xing. She has worked so hard."
Yan Jiu felt a slight pain in his heart again. He didn't even have the qualifications to feel sorry for Miss Ling. Obviously, he had the chance.
"General Han is the sharpest knife in your majesty's hand, and your majesty wants to keep him to guard Chang'an, so he must be in charge of the confiscation of property."
Twelve Lady didn't understand: "Why? Your Majesty has so many generals under his command."
Yan Jiu didn't know how to explain the emperor's mind to his silly sister. Chang'an's prosperity and wealth were dazzling, but what if after the capital was moved, the remaining Hanxing was corrupted by the powerful with sugar-coated bullets?
Don't say that Han Xing can't change. People can change. Many dragon slayers eventually become evil dragons.
Your Majesty's order to confiscate Han Xing's property completely cuts off the possibility that Han Xing would associate with the powerful. Staying in Chang'an and commanding a large army, Han Xing must be a lone and loyal minister.
Yan Jiu said softly: "Don't worry! After the autumn harvest, General Han's sword can be put away."
(End of this chapter)
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