Chapter 442 Storm
Luo Sheng and Luo Shi looked at the rather tragic news coming from Central Plains in their hands, and were stunned. Both of them fell into silence. Luo Shi opened his mouth, but no sound came out because he didn't know what to say.
There was another silence, and Luo Shi murmured, "It shouldn't be like this. There's no need to go this far. How could His Majesty..."
It was hard for Luo Sheng to accept this fact, and even harder for Luo Shi to accept it!
Although Luo Sheng found it difficult to accept, he was only the son of Duke Zhao after all. In the final analysis, he was a guest of the Han Dynasty and had feelings for the Han Dynasty, the main empire of the Xia Dynasty.
Luo Shi is different, he is Wushuang Hou!
He was a marquis of the inner vassal state.
He was a minister who had received dual titles from both the Son of Heaven and the Emperor, and a minister of the Han Dynasty. After Liu Dan ascended the throne, he personally wrote a congratulatory letter and sent it to Chang'an, swearing to be loyal to the emperor.
The emperor is his master!
Although the Luo family has a flexible moral bottom line, it is only directed at monarchs who are too outrageous. The Luo family members will not be blindly loyal. For example, Duke Wen of Luo decisively abandoned King Li of Zhou in the past.
This does not mean that Luo Shizi is an unfaithful person. Luo Shizi's good reputation for thousands of years is because Luo Shizi's character is trustworthy.
It was just like when Luo Yi accepted Liu Bang's last wish to take care of Liu Ruyi, but he gave up the position of regent that was within his grasp.
You have to know that at that time, Luo Xin had not returned to Chang'an, and Luo Yi did not know that the future regent would still be a descendant of the Luo family. He would rather give up his prominent position and even give up the future of his family's prominent political career to carry out Liu Bang's last wish. This is Luo Yi's loyalty to Liu Bang.
Luo Shi was very satisfied with Liu Dan's performance since he ascended the throne. But now, Liu Dan gave him a heavy blow, which Luo Shi could not accept at all.
Luo Shi held the letter in his hand and sighed, "Brother, if the Central Plains is in chaos, what should we do to keep the Western Regions?"
It is extremely difficult to gain a foothold in a foreign country. Both the Western Han Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty failed and failed to establish a civilization and country belonging to the Han people. This was probably related to the policies of the Han Dynasty, which never considered completely assimilating the Western Regions.
The Tang Dynasty was actually the closest to success. The regime established by the Guiyi Army and the existence of the Jin Kingdom of Khotan were both contributions of the Tang Dynasty. If there had been no An-Shi Rebellion, and if it had taken another hundred years, perhaps the Tang Dynasty would have been able to completely make the Western Regions its own.
The Han Dynasty in this world has changed its attitude towards the Western Regions. It is no longer a simple garrison, but is preparing to gradually encroach on immigrants and establish various states in the Western Regions. The Wusun Kingdom and the Wushuang Marquisate are one attempt.
If you want to establish stable rule over a region, it is relatively simple if you just integrate it. For example, the various Khanates of the Mongol Empire would convert to the local religion and customs when they entered a region and use the local culture to rule. For example, if a dynasty roughly inherited the system of the Ming Dynasty and strengthened it with its own ethnic characteristics, its rule would be very stable.
But if one does not want to integrate but wants to change the local culture, it will take a hundred years and three or four generations.
Luo Wuji and Luo Shi, two generations, have worked here for twenty years and discovered that there is something wrong with the people in this land of the Western Regions. They have a strong belief in gods. Even the Han people from the Central Plains who come to this land will become mysterious after giving birth to children.
If they asked Ji Zhao, Ji Zhao would definitely tell them that this is the rule of the world, and this is how the Western Regions are. The intersection and integration of cultures is the charm of the Western Regions.
However, this situation caused a rather embarrassing thing. There was no such superstitious religion in the Central Plains. There was one in the Chu State before, but it was destroyed by the Xiang family of the Chu State using their ancestor Ji Zhao.
Therefore, all the superstitious religions were eliminated, and the Eight Lords was not a religion in the traditional sense.
Only King Su Ji Zhao!
But Ji Zhao's belief in Su Wang was that of the ancestor god, which was essentially close to the level of Taoism and was integrated into the blood of Xia.
To some extent, Su Wang Shang Huang is a very righteous god, a god who teaches people not to rely on gods. This is unique. If it weren't for the Luo family, no one would believe in this kind of belief which is not so mysterious.
But neither Ji Zhao nor Luo Shi were willing to let the Emperor Su Wang become a person who restricted their thoughts, thus leading to the current situation.
The Luo family has already begun preparations to develop a special version of Suwang Shanghuangtian for the Western Regions, but this is destined to be a long process.
In this situation when time was most needed, the emperor issued an edict that caused seven out of ten merchants in Guanzhong to go bankrupt. This edict was also spread throughout the country, and it is unknown how many human tragedies it caused.
The moment Pandora's box was opened, it was no longer about tax inspection, but about the manipulation of taxes by scoundrels and cunning clerks. No matter whether it was real tax evasion or honest businessmen, no one could escape from this storm.
It can even be said that this is the inevitable ending!
Luo Sheng sighed and said, "Ashi, calm down, the arrow is on the string and has to be shot.
You are a general, and at this moment, you must fight this battle!
I will return to the Central Plains immediately to see what the situation is like in the world."
Luo Shi took a deep breath, forced himself to steady himself, and slowly placed the letter on the table.
After Luo Sheng and Luo Shi parted ways, they hurried all the way from the Western Regions to the Central Plains. From the Western Regions to the four counties of Hexi, there was a busy scene as people were preparing for the war.
When he crossed the Hexi Corridor and entered Longxi County, he looked back at the Western Regions and thought: "Ashi must have gone to war with the Kingdom of Dayuan by now. The Western Regions are too far away. Once the Central Dynasty declines in the future, they will definitely not be able to take care of them."
Putting aside these complicated thoughts, Luo Sheng was no longer in a hurry to travel as before, but began to investigate the situation in Guanzhong.
…
In a rather shabby hut, a little girl fluttered her eyes and asked fearfully, "Father, why did those clerks come to steal our things?"
The middle-aged man had a tired look on his face. He was about to speak when he suddenly heard a noisy sound coming from outside the house. He opened the window and saw that it was a clerk from the government office!
Seeing the man, the clerk showed a look of joy on his face and shouted loudly, "Wang San, you still owe 8,000 coins. Pay it quickly, otherwise you will be exiled according to the Han law.
Your wife and daughter are so delicate and tender, I am afraid they cannot stand the hardship of exile. Let me tell you, half of the exiled people will die on the way. Pay the money quickly and you can save your life."
Wang San roared, "I have always done business honestly and never owed the imperial court any commercial taxes. Why should I pay? It was you guys who deliberately framed me and put me in this situation today.
"Sui Wang, open your eyes and see how these evil people can stand safely under the blue sky."
The clerk sneered and said, "Your cloth shop is worth 150,000 coins, but you only paid taxes based on 80,000 coins. Isn't this your fault?
We are all following His Majesty's instructions and the laws of the Han Dynasty. Are you dissatisfied with His Majesty?"
Wang San was so angry that he almost vomited blood. Fifteen thousand coins, he himself didn't know that his cloth shop was worth fifty thousand coins. Who would spend fifty thousand coins to buy his cloth shop? It was obvious that the government had overestimated the value of his shop in order to collect more taxes. Then, after checking, they said that he had not paid enough taxes and directly swallowed up his shop.
When people are extremely angry, they sometimes become more rational. Wang San looked up at the sky, as if he felt that the King of Su above the nine heavens was watching him. At this time, Wang San was sure that these clerks did not want to give him a chance to live.
In this case, are we just going to sit there and wait for death?
That's ridiculous.
Wang San and his wife looked at each other, and both saw determination in each other's eyes, especially Wang San's wife, who said resolutely: "If I can survive today, I will go to Chang'an to see the emperor. Emperor Gao overthrew the tyrannical Qin Dynasty, and now the Han Dynasty is unkind to us. I am willing to use my meager strength to eliminate the tyranny. If the emperor does not care, I will become a bandit and overthrow the court."
Wang San quickly ran back into the house, took down the hanging sword, and returned to the yard.
Seeing that Wang San actually resisted, the clerks were a little panicked, but not surprised. After all, the Han people are very brave, and since the policy was implemented, many people have resisted. Not to mention the clerks, even officials have been assassinated and seriously injured.
"Wang San, do you really want to resist?"
The clerk screamed, "Rebellion against the imperial court is the fate of the three tribes of Yi. Your daughter is still so young, can you bear this consequence?"
Faced with this situation, the only way is to seize the weaknesses of these people. Using weaknesses to threaten is the most effective. This is a typical variation of collective responsibility, which has been proven to be effective.
Wang San sneered upon hearing this and said, "It is better to die with pride than to live in humiliation.
The spirit of the Su Wang is in heaven. Today I die bravely, and my soul will be taken into the realm of the gods. But you, these filthy people, are destined to be cast into the underworld and suffer for eternity."
The clerks' faces changed when they heard this, and some of them said in a broken voice: "The emperor is the son of the Su Wang Shang Huang, and we are obeying the emperor's orders. How could the Su Wang Shang Huang punish us?
You, a traitor, are so disrespectful to the Emperor Su Wang. You deserve to die."
Wang San stopped talking nonsense and stepped forward with a sword in hand. He used to be a soldier of the Han army, but he had not made any contributions. However, in terms of strength alone, he was much stronger than these clerks who could only exploit people.
With neither side wearing armor, Wang San was fighting one against three. With a few quick, accurate and ruthless moves, he killed several people in the courtyard, leaving behind several corpses and flowing blood.
"Let's go to Chang'an."
Wang San breathed deeply. Killing these clerks brought him a great shock. Without stopping for a moment, the two packed their bags and prepared to go to Chang'an.
————
Any policy that is implemented at the grassroots level must be implemented with the greatest malice to understand the thoughts of grassroots officials and formulate reasonable assessment methods. If the policy makers cannot effectively control grassroots officials, then no new changes should be made. This is the core concept of the reform. - "The Transformation of the Han Empire"
(End of this chapter)
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