Chapter 658: We Are the King's People!

On the edge of the official road of Mojun, wisps of smoke floated from a village with high earthen walls, and the emperor of heaven disguised himself as a traveler from a foreign country to enter the cottage to spend the night.

At first, the people in the cottage were quite wary of this group of people and were reluctant to let them enter the cottage, but after Situxi Xinghou took out the customs clearance documents, the people let down their vigilance and welcomed the group in.

A gray-haired old man received the Son of Heaven and his party.

"The four guests are going to Xidu to study?"

Xixinghou hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Exactly, my master wants to send the little master to Xidu to study, passing by here, thank you for taking me in." ”

"The guests were very polite, as it should be. The old man waved his hand, and then the villagers brought a cup of hot water and said, "Guests drink more hot water, there are many insects in the southern wasteland, and it is easy to have insects in the stomach when you drink raw water." ”

Emperor Dusk and his party were naturally not worried that mortals would poison them, the only thing that made them curious was that the truth in this old man's words was very novel.

Emperor Ziqi asked: "Uncle, you said that there are insects in the body of drinking raw water, how did you know this truth? Could it be Xidu?"

"Xiao Lang is worthy of being a scholar, this truth is from the Xidu, it is said that from the mouth of the king, said that there are tiny insects in the water, if swallowed into the stomach, the insects will multiply in the body, then people will be sick, after the fire is burned, the insects in the water die, and it is safe to drink.

At first, we didn't believe it, but at the repeated requests of the military master, we tried to drink hot water, and sure enough, fewer people were sick. ”

When the old man talked about this, he was very familiar and skillful, and at a glance he knew that it was not the first time that he had flaunted to strangers.

Lao Situ nodded: "Not bad, yes, if you think about it carefully, there is a lot of truth in this." ”

"That's nature, the king's words, how can there be any falsehood!" the old man blurted out without thinking.

This scene fell in the eyes of Emperor Twilight of the Son of Heaven and his party, and the four of them were immediately quite surprised, it was only a year since the Xi Kingdom annexed Mojun, and the Marquis of Xiyun had such prestige in this place, and the people were so convinced of it.

"Uncle, the king in your mouth is the Marquis of Xiyun. Twilight asked.

"This is natural, there is only one king in Xiguo, there is no second king, now this is Mojun, not Moguo, we are all the people of Xiyun Hou now!" Speaking of being a citizen of Xiguo, the old man was quite proud, as if he was showing off something to strangers.

Emperor Twilight, Emperor Ziqi, Lao Situ, and Xixinghou were all a little stunned and a little stunned, before that, they never thought that one day, an old man with a head of Qianshou would show some kind of superiority in front of them.

Emperor Ziqi was disdainful in his heart, but he had a modest smile on his face: "Old man, what is the difference between the people of Xiyun Hou and the people of Mexico?"

"The four guests are rich and noble, and they don't know that we have a hard time in digging and eating people. ”

The old man smiled: , don't say anything else, when Mo Bo was in power in the past, our village had to starve to death every year, but this year, as soon as the king took over Mo County, our village has been a lot looser this year, and we can have a good year, and the future will be better and better year by year, better than their life in the Middle Earth, and the passing business travelers do not envy our people in Mo County. ”

Speaking of this year's winter, the old man and the villagers beside him stretched their brows, their faces did not have too much worry, and their bodies exuded a vitality that could not be seen in ordinary Qianshou - it was a kind of yearning for a better life, simple and simple.

Xixinghou bowed slightly, and then smiled: "Then congratulations to the old man and all the villagers." ”

The old man and the villagers were quite flattered by the strangers, and for a while, the guests and hosts enjoyed themselves.

Emperor Twilight of the Son of Heaven and Lao Situ glanced at each other, it was this simple scene, but it was inexplicable in the hearts of the two, as if they had grasped something, but then it disappeared in a flash.

Emperor Twilight of the Son of Heaven opened his mouth and asked, "Old man, the Marquis of Xiyun has only been in charge of Mojun for a year, how much has your life improved?"

At the beginning of this year, the king called on us to reclaim agriculture, the newly reclaimed wasteland, not only free of rent and tax in the first year, but also free rental of farm tools, the most important thing is that as long as the wasteland is reclaimed, we can have the right to contract permanently, and there are more fields to cultivate, and life is definitely getting better and better!"

"Yes, the king has divided all the fields for us, and in the future we only need to pay taxes to the king, so that there is a lot less excesses and miscellaneous taxes, and a lot of forced labor is exempted. ”

"The king also gave high-quality grain seeds, and the yield per mu has increased greatly, and there will be so much grain that I can't eat it in the future!"

"The king also sent the old farmers of Chishui City, they are the old farmers who cultivate four stones per mu, and they learned the art of cultivation from them, and the land can also be highly productive in the future. ”

......

As soon as he talked about the changes in the past year, the old man and the villagers behind him became interested, gossiping, telling how their lives were getting better and better.

Emperor Twilight, Lao Situ and his entourage listened silently, and in the discussion of the villagers, they saw that Xiyun Hou spared no effort to encourage the people to farm mulberry, and gave them various supports, and the support was so strong that they couldn't help but be a little speechless.

For example, renting farm tools for free, which consumes unimaginable financial and material resources, although the follow-up harvest of the people in the soil can also recover the capital, but the early expenses are so large that ordinary vassal states simply can't afford it.

Another example is the exemption of rent tax on newly cultivated land, which is also mentioned in Xiyunhou's recital, and Xiyunhou also used this as evidence to criticize the Celestial Empire's [initial mu tax] for being too radical and not considering people's livelihood.

In the end, Emperor Dusk of the Son of Heaven was also quite emotional, and said: "In this way, Xiyun Hou is indeed quite good to the people. ”

"That's nature!" the old man nodded, with a little happiness on his face: "I heard from the merchant traveler who passed by that the Son of Heaven sent a messenger to determine the world's land and property, and wanted to collect the [initial mu tax], whether it was private land or public land, it was necessary to take one of the nine, which was bitter for the common people, and the taxation and servitude were already heavy, so they were counting on secretly cultivating a little private land to live. ”

Lao Situ asked: "Brother, the whole world is not the king's land, the land under the world belongs to the Son of Heaven, and it is the obligation of the people of the Celestial Dynasty to pay tribute to the Son of Heaven." ”

The old man nodded: "That's nature, but the Son of Heaven can't ignore the life and death of the people in the world, people say that the Son of Heaven is the embodiment of benevolence." ”

"Ahem!"

When Di Du and his party heard the complaints of the people at the bottom, they couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.

But fortunately, after complaining, the old man changed his words and said:

"It's better for our king, clearly contract the land to us to cultivate, just pay rent and tax per mu, compared to other vassal states, life is much better, as long as people are diligent enough, cultivate well, do more and more, the future will be better and better, hehehe, this year to pay tribute to the Son of Heaven, my Xiguo ranks first among the princes in the world, you should all know it." ”

The old man is quite proud, proud of being a Xiguo person.

Emperor Dusk, Lao Situ, Situ Xixinghou, Emperor Ziqi and his party heard the words and thought thoughtfully.