In May, Luoyang is the cool breeze blowing on the face, ten thousand green buds, the mulberries on both sides of the Xuanwu Road are ripe and purple, and it is a pleasing sight to look at from afar.

"Your Majesty, did you come to the courtiers to ask about the repair of the palace?"

Bypassing the pavilions and water pavilions in the West Garden, the life of the emperor seems to be the same, the diligent and loving people have endless songs, and the greedy and mediocre have endless tunes.

Liu Hong was lying in Wanjin Hall, and when Xiyuan rode to report, a little eunuch brought a futon and put it on the ground, and when Ma Yue came over, Liu Hong waved his hand and said: "I don't care when the second palace will be repaired, Xiyuan is very good, as long as you are cultivating, don't worry, sit down, I asked you to talk about something else today." ”

"No."

Ma Yue knelt on the futon, waiting for Liu Hong's next words, and a eunuch served a slurry pastry in front of him, today Liu Hong has no one else around, even Zhang Rang Zhao Zhong, who usually serves on the left and right, is gone, it seems that even Ren Zhi's piano sound makes Liu Hong tired of hearing it, and he has changed to a young piano master.

"Jun Hao, the few people you recommended to me, as well as the brothers in your hometown, are all good." Liu Hong waved his arm on his pillow, and the little eunuch of the attendant held a wooden plate with a stack of battle reports on it.

Ma Yue thanked Liu Hong and opened the battle report to look at it, Liu Hong squinted his eyes and reclined on the couch, swaying slightly with the sound of the piano, and his expression was very leisurely.

In March, Gai Xun and Fu Xie and others took office, in the middle of the rebel army intended to cross Hanyang to attack Sanfu, was broken by Gai Xun and Zhang Wen coalition army under the city of Longguan, at the end of March, the rebels broke through the four counties of Hanyang County, after a short stalemate was again counterattacked by the Han army, Ma Teng, the captain of Huqiang, led the troops to intercept the rebels along the Jincheng line of supplies, the rebels saw the meteorite fall to the ground in the confrontation in early April, and thought that it was an ominous conscription to withdraw to Jincheng, and the Han army was able to recuperate. In this battle report, in addition to the Tai Lieutenant Zhang Wen, the ruling Jinwu Yuan Peng, and the Dangkou general Zhou Shen, Ma Yue also saw a familiar name.

Capture General Dong Zhuo!

Dong Zhuo was only mentioned twice in the battle report, once as a general, and the other time for his frightening achievements. Although the battle was won, Zhang Wen was just a celebrity who didn't know anything about the army, and resisted the cavalry with infantry, and was defeated in the first place, and then won a tragic victory.

Ma Yue read the battle report, put it on the plate again, and handed it to the little eunuch with both hands, Liu Hong said with a smile: "At first, I thought that you were also like those people thought, supporting the family to establish a foothold in Liangzhou, but I didn't expect that the people you recommended to me were talented people who could do things. Just like when you buy a master craftsman, I also meant that you wanted to be greedy for some money from it, but I didn't expect that Ma Junhao was always unexpected! ”

"If the minister eats His Majesty's money, His Majesty should share his worries, this is only the minister's business."

"Say, 'What should I give them?' When the war is over, I plan to transfer them to Luoyang as officials. Liu Hong's tone was inquiring, but the feeling of saying it seemed to have been decided, "How?" ”

When Ma Yue heard this, he got up from the futon and knelt on the ground and said: "Your Majesty, you have given the minister such a favor, you don't have to reward the minister's family, if you want to levy, wait until the war is over to conquer Yuangu to Luoyang, the minister's brothers are like ministers who only know the war and do not understand the political strategy, and the ministers and other people are still good for Your Majesty to guard the frontier." ”

He remembered what he was like when he first came to Luoyang, and now he will suffer from some splints, his brothers and brothers are all people who believe in revenge and etiquette, and they may not know how much trouble they will make when they come over, not to mention that the emperor of Liangzhou Mountain is far away, no one can control them, for them the alpine grassland is their hometown, and they are the most comfortable.

Wild horses should stay on the grassland.

"That's not good, they have made meritorious contributions to me, how can I not reward them, seeing that the captured general Dong Zhuo has not, he has already been sealed in this battle. I will not only be rewarded, but also rewarded. ”

Dong Zhuo is a marquis? Ma Yue didn't know about this at all, when would he be able to make a marquis? He doesn't want to always hang the title of the chief of the horse, when will others call him the marquis when they see him?

"Your Majesty, you don't care about others, if you want to reward the minister's brother, please open the arsenal and reward the border army with some armor, the elder brother wrote a letter some time ago to tell the ministers that the weapons of the border army are only spearheads, or they are made of shabby armor and broken knives melted and shoddy, and the armor of the border army is even inferior to the rebels."

"What?" Liu Hong was very surprised when he got off the couch, and said angrily: "Presumptuous, I only allocated 30 million military expenses to the Liangzhou Army last year, did I feed them to the dogs?" ”

Ma Yue shrunk his neck, he knew that mentioning money to Liu Hong was the consequence, and said stubbornly: "Your Majesty, last year's assassination was Zuo Chang, and he was beheaded for embezzling more than 20 million yuan in military salaries, have you forgotten?" ”

"Oh, yes!" Liu Hong's anger decreased a little when he heard this, but the family property confiscated by Zuo Chang had been filled into the private treasury, it was my money, but I would not take it out again, Liu Hong said with a difficult face: "Shaofu can't get many weapons at once, not to mention that the treasury is now Jun Hao, you also know, a few days ago, the court council Dasi Nong also said that it was about to run out, and the rebellion for years was all expenses." ”

Cut, the devil believes you. Ma Yue has already figured out Liu Hong's temperament, His Majesty is usually very tough, I am not finished with reason, and I have to score three points if I ignore me, once Liu Hong says soft words in his mouth, it must be that His Majesty has a ghost in his heart!

"Your Majesty, the minister has witnessed the displacement of the people in the world in recent years, and he feels that the collection of taxes by the imperial court is biased." Ma Yue sat on the futon silently, and said to Liu Hong: "The minister is bold, I want to talk to Your Majesty about the minister's idea of levying taxes, you can listen to it." ”

Liu Hong yawned, and when he mentioned this, he was bored, waved his hand and said, "You say, I'm listening." ”

"Your Majesty, as far as the ministers know, taxes are divided into three types: field rent, calculation and oral tax, and forced labor. Ma Yuecai doesn't care about Liu Hong's boring appearance, he has been thinking about it for a long time, he must tell Liu Hong, it is best to impress him, it doesn't hurt if he can't move. "What the minister wants to say is the calculation of endowment and oral endowment. Each household has a 'household endowment' of 200 yuan per year, and a male man's endowment of 300 yuan, and each household has to pay a tax of more than 1,000 yuan per year. And many local officials want to collect taxes indiscriminately, loot the people's fat and ointment, Your Majesty, why have so many people in the imperial court rebelled in recent years? There is a reason for this. The root of the problem is that each person has a different ability to pay and pay, but they have to pay so many taxes, and many of these money do not end up in the national treasury. ”

"Jun Hao is right!" Speaking of this, Liu Hong came to his senses and said: "I am also worried about the progress of this tax to the treasury, but it is not easy for supervision to come, what good way can Jun Hao do?" ”

"Your Majesty, since the officials are divided into six or eight thousand two, and the people are divided into three, six, nine, and so on, why can't the rich people collect more taxes? Isn't it true that the levy should be appropriately reduced to the common people, and that the large clans with extensive and fertile land should be levied more, and the peasants should pay more taxes by 10 yuan, but the large clans that earn 10,000 yuan a year will also levy less than 100 yuan. But this number cannot be more or less, only a little more. ”

"Yes, there are also merchants and craftsmen!"

"Your Majesty, the former Emperor Xiaowu didn't have to tax the wealthy merchants, and over time, there will be fewer merchants, and fewer merchants will make the circulation of goods less, which is harmful to the people and the world, and the merchants cannot levy more."

"Well, Jun Hao is right, come, calculate how much more you can do."

Liu Hong was interested, and the two of them deduced and deduced in the Wanjin Hall, which was cost-effective for several days......