As he spoke, Zhang Jian picked up an account book and handed it to Yang Qiu.
"So little?"
A moment later, Yang Qiu's face darkened. The number of households on the ledger was nearly 30% less than what the emperor had given him.
In other words, if he collects taxes according to this ledger, not only will he fail to meet the emperor's expectations, but he will also lose 30%, resulting in a 60% difference. If the task is handled this way, even if the emperor intends to protect him, he probably won't be able to.
Zhang Jian nodded with a gloomy expression. "These people actually manipulated the Xuzhou government to arbitrarily increase the corvée labor. Many people couldn't bear it and would rather pay 50% more in land tax to sell their land and become tenants!"
"Hmph~ They're digging up the roots of the Han people!"
Yang Qiu was furious and slammed his palm on the table, making no attempt to hide his murderous intent.
Just as the two were talking, a palace attendant from the Sili government led in a middle-aged man who looked like a steward.
This person was the spy from the Detective Agency hidden in Cao's mansion. As early as the establishment of the Detective Agency, Yang Qiu began to infiltrate and lie in wait in Xuzhou, Jizhou, Yuzhou and Qingzhou, places where powerful families gathered, as required by Liu Hong.
Liu Hong invested 20% of the proceeds from the raids on Yang Qiu's home into this scheme, and it seems to be quite effective.
"I have met the Commandant and the Governor."
"Um!"
Yang Qiu gave a faint "hmm," then looked at the newcomer and asked, "What's the matter?"
The man bowed his head and said in a deep voice, "Reporting to the captain, Cao Xian has gathered nearly twenty local powerful families from Xuzhou to discuss how to deal with you, captain!"
Yang Qiu raised an eyebrow. "Really? Which families are involved?"
"The Cao family is the main one, along with the Zhao family, the Cheng family..."
Zhang Jian couldn't help but ask, "Hmm! Not the Chen family or the Mi family?"
"No!" The spy shook his head.
"These two families are at least sensible. Tell me, how do those people plan to deal with me?"
Yang Qiu couldn't help but smile contemptuously. He had seen stubborn people before, but he had never seen anyone as stubborn as this.
The spy then truthfully relayed all the information he had gathered to Yang Qiu and Zhang Jian.
Yang Qiu couldn't help but look at Zhang Jian, "Hmm! They're not entirely stupid; they know how to use subtle tactics against us! No wonder Governor Zhang can't take them down for the time being."
"So it still takes Captain Yang's intervention; without a knife, you can't scare them!"
Zhang Jian smiled awkwardly. Although he was upright and resolute, he couldn't just take action against them without evidence. He just hadn't expected Yang Qiu's intelligence capabilities to be so strong.
"No problem! None of these people will escape!"
Yang Qiu's eyes narrowed slightly, revealing a sinister glint.
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