The lobby of Fuzhou government office.
Qin Liangyu, governor-general of four provinces, Long Wenguang, governor of Sichuan, and Wang Xingjian, prefect of Chongqing, took their seats respectively.
After Zeng Ying saluted, he looked at Long Wenguang. Zhang Xianzhong sent his troops to attack Changshou, and he was not stationed there. What was he doing here?
Long Wenguang seemed to see through Zeng Ying's thoughts and smiled, "Don't panic, brother Zeng. Sun Kewang's troops are still more than 200 miles away from Changshou. Fuling and Changshou are only 60 miles away by mountain road. I can take the small road back tonight."
Zeng Ying smiled awkwardly, then sat down and drank her tea as elegantly as possible.
"Everyone!" Qin Liangyu spoke.
Although she had won both on land and sea, there was no trace of joy on her face.
Qin Liangyu continued, "I have found the reason why I have recruited soldiers from all over the country but had little effect."
"Oh?" Long Wenguang's eyes lit up.
Except Zeng Ying, this situation occurred to all the other people when they were recruiting soldiers.
However, Zeng Ying's navy could only accommodate a limited number of people. Even if he recruited twice as many soldiers, they could only be trained in the rear.
Some people may say that Zeng Ying should recruit soldiers for others.
Ideals are beautiful, but reality is cruel.
Those people were coming for Zeng Ying. If it wasn't Zeng Ying who was leading the troops, they would have turned around and run without hesitation.
Long Wenguang cupped his hands and said, "Please tell me, Governor Qin!"
Qin Liangyu first glanced at Zeng Ying, then sighed, and finally said leisurely: "The people's hearts are not with the court."
"No way?" Long Wenguang stood up in surprise. "The court not only exempted the country from taxes for one year, but also exempted corvée. We recruited soldiers this time according to the court's rules. We first gave them five taels of silver as a settlement allowance, and then one tael and six cents of salary every month."
“This adds up to a lot of money!”
"People, are you still not satisfied?"
Qin Liangyu sighed again: "Actually, there aren't that many!"
"What do you mean?" Wang Xingjian, the prefect of Chongqing who had been silent, spoke up.
"The court exempted the land tax, but not the people's tax! Most of the land is not in the hands of the people, but in the hands of the gentry and landlords."
"The common people rented the land from the gentry and landlords. Regardless of whether the court collected taxes or not, the gentry and landlords would collect rent from the common people."
"The people are still suffering! Before they saw Zhang Xianzhong's true face, the people even hoped that he would invade and execute all the gentry and landlords!"
After listening to Qin Liangyu's analysis, the expressions of the other people present changed.
No wonder Qin Liangyu summoned them to discuss matters overnight, this was the reason.
But...
What should I do?
Everyone was at a loss.
The reason why Zeng Ying was called Master Zeng was that he was kind and generous, had a lot of contact with the grassroots people, and knew a lot.
He smiled bitterly: "My Lords, in fact, this is not the fault of the people. No matter how many years the court exempts taxes and corvée, it has nothing to do with the people. To put it bluntly, these people who rent land to grow crops see no hope, and even have no way to survive in years of disaster."
"So they hope that we will fail quickly, so that Zhang Xianzhong can kill all those gentry and landlords, and then divide the land equally!"
Long Wenguang thought for a moment and asked Zeng Ying: "Brother Zeng, why can you easily recruit civilians, but we can't? The money for recruiting soldiers is the same, and I even add a little bit in private."
"Me?" Zeng Ying thought for a moment, "People think I'm a good person, so they are willing to follow me for a living."
Qin Liangyu rolled her eyes at Zeng Ying and asked, "General Zeng, do you mean... that I'm not a good person?"
“No, no, no…” Zeng Ying waved her hands quickly.
How could this second-rank lady, a female general who was trusted by the emperor and appointed governor of four provinces, not be a good person?
"What I mean is that the people have received my kindness and trust in me. They are willing to follow me so that I can achieve success, get promoted and make money."
"After becoming an official and getting rich, the next step is to buy land. They rented my land and the court exempted my taxes, so I will also exempt them from the corresponding land rent."
"On the surface, this matter is about trust, but in reality it is for their own benefit."
"Of course, I won't harm them either."
After listening to Zeng Ying's speech, Qin Liangyu, Long Wenguang and Wang Xingjian nodded at the same time.
Now that we have the reason, what about the method?
Qin Liangyu looked at Zeng Ying again.
Zeng Ying felt uneasy when being stared at.
He first pretended to lower his head, pretending not to see Qin Liangyu's gaze.
But after pretending for a while, he couldn't continue.
Because Qin Liangyu personally walked up to him and poured him a cup of tea: "Zeng Ying, I have long known that you are known as Zeng Gongzi in Shu. Now the court is in danger. Please find a way to help me."
"Even if you don't want to help me, please help the Ming Dynasty and His Majesty!"
"You have to know that the Ming Dynasty is not the only one experiencing war here. The Mongols, the Jian Nu, and Li Zicheng have beaten the north to pieces! If something happens in the south again, the Ming Dynasty will be in danger!"
Zeng Ying didn't dare to continue sitting there. He reached out to hold the lid of the teacup, and only breathed a sigh of relief after Qin Liangyu finished pouring the tea. "Governor Qin, Zeng can't bear it!"
"It's not that I don't want to help, it's just that this matter is more difficult to handle!"
"It's difficult?" Qin Liangyu was immediately delighted, "Tell me quickly."
Zeng Ying said it was difficult, not impossible. In other words, there must be a way.
Zeng Ying coughed lightly, bowed to the people present, and then softened his tone: "It is temporarily impossible to recruit soldiers in the eastern Sichuan area."
"If you want to recruit soldiers, you have to start from central and western Sichuan."
"Why?"
"Because all the land there belongs to the King of Shu. If the King of Shu exempts the people from all or part of the land rent, the people will definitely be grateful. Wouldn't that win the people's support?"
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