Chen State, one hundred and twenty-five years after the founding of the country, was known as the strongest kingdom in the far north, the lord Chen Baxian once opened the country in Zhennan Pass, and at the same time met the enemy of the sixteen countries, battled, and won.

For a while, Chen Guo was in the limelight for a while, and the major forces in the extreme north were uneasy and began to work together to suppress Chen Guo, but Chen Baxian was able to anticipate the enemy's opportunity and strangle the danger in the cradle, seeing that the sanctions were useless, the embarrassed and angry Lingyun Sect sent mountain cultivators down the mountain to massacre innocent people.

Chen Baxian went to Lingyun Sect alone to destroy one of his high-level people in order to protect the people of Li, but he was not defeated and hidden behind the scenes of Lingyun Sect, and was seriously injured and was rescued by Zhou Tianzi and returned to Chen State.

But three years later, that changed dramatically.

Three years later, the monarch Chen Ba disappeared first, disappeared, and the person who took over the Chen State became the Taifu Fan Zeng of the Great Zhou State, during his reign, the national strength of the Chen State fell again and again, the poverty and weakness, the military generals were disarmed, the civil servants returned to the fields, and the people of Li were miserable, but Fan Zeng did not care about this, patronizing and indulging in wine, eating, drinking and having fun in his Weiyang Palace every day, ignoring the government and politics.

This and the situation did not improve until the past two years, Fan Zeng seemed to have changed his face, and began to actively manage the government, but Chen Guo had accumulated deep shortcomings, and it was difficult to completely cure many shortcomings for a while.

Chen Guoren knew these things, but no one dared to say them.

In Chen Guo, no one dares to say good things about Chen Baxian on the surface, even if they know in their hearts that he is really good.

No one dares to say bad things about Fan Zeng, even if they know that he is really bad.

But in the past few days, as if there was an undercurrent stirring the stagnant waters of Chen Guo, countless gossip news began to circulate among Chen Guo.

The content is basically that when Fan Zeng was in power, the corpse was vegetarian, and he did not seek his own government, and taxes and forced labor appeared in an endless stream, making the people live in dire straits and miserable. During the reign of Chen Baxian, the country was peaceful and peaceful, the country was rich and strong, and the people were rich and noble.

These are the words that all Chen Guoren have heard, and for some reason, they have always been mentioned by people during this period of time, as if there is a force secretly pushing the development of this state of affairs.

Originally, these Chen Guoren only dared to say the words behind their backs, but they were gradually brought to the stage, and only a few people were talking about it when it opened, and then there were people in the streets and alleys who were talking, and when it came to the bitterness, some people did not forget to spit in the direction of Weiyang Palace to vent the anger in their hearts.

"In the past, when Chen Guozhu was in power, fifty taxes were one, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and the people were rich, but since this Fan Papi came, the harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes are endless, only you dare not think, there is no one they dare not collect, all year round, this land is finally a little harvested, miscellaneous taxes are paid ninety, and the remaining one percent is used to feed the family, and it has to be kept for seeding, which makes the people how to live!"

A middle-aged man with a sallow face sat at the door of his house, smoking a dry cigarette and sighing.

He seemed to be the only one who had suffered like this, there were several yellow-skinned and thin-skinned men beside him who were also sighing and sighing, and a few children with little life in their eyes were sitting lazily under the big tree not far away, listening to words they did not understand.

They don't care about that, they just care about what they're going to eat at noon today, what they're going to eat tonight, when they're going to have a full meal.

An old farmer slammed a puff of cigarette and gently spit out a large cloud of smoke, "Who says it isn't! Fan Papi has no humanity at all, and he almost scraped off a layer of skin from this land." ”

Another old farmer knocked his hand on the bluestone under his buttocks

Although the tax has not been reduced to 50 tax 1 at the time of Chen Guozhu, has it also been reduced to 15 tax 1? Now it is much better than my father's generation, who was beaten to death by the tax collector because he could not pay the tax. ”

An old farmer sneered and said: "You are the kind of person who forgets the pain when you give you two sweet dates, and you also know that your father was beaten to death by the tax collector. ”

The person who spoke before couldn't help but blush, so he had no choice but to say: "I'm just talking casually! Don't I know who Fan Papi is? Look at you, why are you still serious!"

One of the few people who had not spoken suddenly said, "Do you know why Fan Papi has changed sex in the past two years?"

The others looked at him curiously.

They know about these big people!

The man looked around and whispered, "I entered the city some time ago, and I heard something in the city, do you want to listen to it about Lord Chen?"

The others hurriedly urged: "Tell me quickly, we all grew up listening to the stories of the lord of the country, is it possible that there are stories that we don't know about the lord of the country?"

"It is said that seventy years ago, the lord of the kingdom did not disappear. ”

The man lowered his voice and said slowly, "Everyone must know that the lord of the country is the king of Han of the Great Zhou Dynasty! In the past, the lord of the country was seriously injured in order to protect our people from being slaughtered, and later recuperated in the national capital, but Taifu Fan Zeng wrote to Zhou Tianzi because he coveted the position of the king of Han of the country, and secretly slandered the lord of the country, and Zhou Tianzi was confused by Fan Zeng, so he recalled the lord of the country to Luoyang to recuperate from his injuries, and sent Taifu Fan Papi to supervise the country. ”

"Where did you hear all this?"

It is said that some high-ranking officials who have retired have spoken one after another, saying that this is the case, and even Chen Changsheng, the chief steward of the palace, personally confirmed the truth of this matter. ”

The middle-aged man who was sitting at the door smoking before broke the pipe in his hand and threw it on the ground, and said with slightly red eyes: "You fucking Fan Peel, it turns out that the lord of the country was taken away by you using conspiracy methods, and we have lived a hard life for so long. ”

The faces of the others were not very good-looking, although Chen Baxian had already left Chen Country when they were children, but they did grow up listening to the legend of Chen Baxian from the mouths of their ancestors. They not only inherited the bloodline of their ancestors, but also inherited the love of their ancestors for Chen Baxian.

Hearing that such a person, who is admired and loved by all the people, finally left the scene so dismally, there was a burning anger in their hearts. I can't wait to pick up Fan Zeng's skin now.

The man continued: "Later, after Fan Papi came to Chen Guo, he saw that Chen Guo was united in his heart, and he couldn't quickly control Chen Guo, and he was afraid that the lord of the country would suddenly return from injury, and replace the position he had finally gotten into his hands, so he began to make money crazy in Chen State, and various taxes appeared in an endless stream, and the money was in hand, so that even if the lord of the country came back, he could make a lot of money and return with a full load." ”

When the others heard this, their faces suddenly had some expectations, "Do you say that the lord of the country can still come back?"

The face of the person who spoke before darkened, and he said softly: "I can't come back, the lord of the country is dead, the lord of the country has died a few years ago, this is also the reason why Fan Papi has reduced taxes in the past two years, fifteen taxes one, you think he is very kind, but in fact it is not, it is because the lord of the country is dead, no one fights with him for Chen Guo, and he doesn't have to be crazy about collecting money, fifteen taxes one, we don't live well,

He can't die, so he can treat us as captive animals, and slowly squeeze us until we drain our blood......"

The man looked at the angry children who were hiding in the shade of the trees, and said softly, "Until we drain the blood of our descendants." ”

The others were also gloomy and silent.

This scene did not happen in one village or one village, but in the whole territory of Chen State, but wherever there were people, but wherever they were oppressed by Fan Zeng, people were silent.

The death of the lord of the country who loves the people like a son does not mean that their lives will be dark in the future, and they will live under the rule of Fan Zeng's faintness.

At this moment, many people are nostalgic for the deceased lord of the country, even if many people have never seen him in their lives.

At this moment, many people are hoping that someone will descend from the sky and bring them out of the darkness and into the light.

At this moment, they were looking forward to it.

But will anyone really come?

No one knows.

......

......

In the Weiyang Palace, Fan Zeng quietly listened to the report of the courtiers below with his hands behind his back, and was silent.

Those rumors circulating in the market, no one knows the truth or falsehood better than him.

Fan Zeng said in a deep voice: "What should you do about this?"

The courtiers below were all silent, and no one dared to touch his moldy head at this moment.

Fan Zeng turned his head and quietly looked at the group of courtiers below, and said coldly: "Wang Shangshu, tell me what to do?"

An old man immediately stepped out of the ranks, and after a moment of silence, he said: "Taifu, the lower official suggested that all the rumor-mongers be arrested, and one of them should be killed to make an example. ”

Now that the rumors have risen, what is the use of arresting them, and the most urgent task at the moment is to stop the rumors and not allow the state of the world to continue to deteriorate. ”

Another minister said: "What you said is light, but now the people in the Chen Kingdom are boiling with resentment, how do you say to stop it?"

Fan Zeng sat high on the first place, quietly listening to the quarrel in this small court.

A young official said: "The best thing for mankind is to forget, and a person who has been gone for more than 70 years, how many people still really remember that these foolish names are now so noisy just to earn the greatest profit for themselves! Didn't they say that we pay taxes and miscellaneous taxes mostly to collect money? Then we lightly pay for the meager endowment. Even if the treasury is opened to build people's livelihood projects, I believe that the rumors will be self-defeating at that time, and we can even take advantage of the situation to win a wave of people's hearts. ”

As soon as he finished saying this, there was silence in the court, and everyone looked at him like they were looking at him.

The people's money bags are bulging, but their money bags are about to be deflated.

Don't you need money to eat, drink, and be merry? Don't you need money to support your family? Don't you need money to practice?

The money that goes into the treasury goes into Mrs. Fan's pocket, and if you want to take money from Mrs. Fan's pocket, you don't know why the flowers are so red!

Being too young is not all good thing.

The officials who had been talking eloquently before suddenly realized it and broke out in a cold sweat.

Fan Zeng stared at him silently for a while, then waved his hand and said, "Let's all go out!"

After everyone left, Fan Zeng sat on the main hall and chuckled: "You are really surprising! But let me tell you, this Chen Guo's surname is Fan, not Chen, I'll see what flowers you can play in this Weiyang Palace. ”