After bidding farewell to Zhang Yan and Jia Kui, Tong Yuan and his entourage returned to the southern part of Taiyuan County and Hedong County from Jingcheng.

In Taiyuan County in September, it is no longer so hot, and even at night, you have to be careful not to catch a cold. Along the way, the mountains and rivers are beautiful, which is very different from the situation of the later generations of ravines and ravines cracked and without vegetation.

Passing through a small plain, the corn fields on both sides are already golden, although there is not a lot of fertilizer like Tong Yuantuntian, but at least the harvest is in sight, and people can see the hope of living well.

Seeing this scene, Tong Yuan felt that this battle was worth it. Isn't the purpose of fighting a war so that the people can return to normal life, be able to eat enough, and live a good life?

Of course, it is also necessary to withstand the trend of the times, have enough strength to divide and integrate the surrounding ethnic groups, and complete this process with a proactive attitude.

This time, Yu Poison and Zhang Fang, who joined successively, have not yet been arranged. Tong Yuan planned to let Zhang Fang guard the counties of Taiyuan, but he did not fix his position at first, and let him serve as a temporary quartermaster and military instructor in Hu Lang'er's 13th Brigade successively after a year.

In fact, this arrangement drew on the internship of later generations, allowing him to take turns to hold important positions in the brigade, and on the basis of not affecting the former officers of the 13th Brigade, he successively participated in the work of various positions and accumulated experience.

Whether or not to set up a new brigade in a year and what position he will hold will depend on his attitude and ability.

Yu Poison's ability is outstanding, and he is an important leader of the Black Mountain Army, and this time he briefly won Yecheng, which made Yuan Shao furious. His arrival can be said to be a boost to the Xiliang army and the imperial court, and to make up for the loss of Jizhou Mu Yishou.

But how do you arrange it?

The Dreadnought Army has no more positions, and the arrangement to the Tuntian Army is a little unworthy of his prestige. After thinking about it, he planned to involve him in the restoration of the annexation state, and as for the position, it was still placed in the Tuntian Army, but he also asked the imperial court to give him the position of captain.

The army returned to its garrison to rest and replenish its troops. The development path of promoting a military camp to a dreadnought army is convenient, which not only ensures the combat strength of the dreadnought, but also inspires enthusiasm, and there is not much problem in the case of the dreadnought army not being greatly expanded.

He is most concerned about production and the affairs of the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce now.

At the end of September, there were seven counties in Xiayang, Anyi, Puban, Xiexian, Wenxi, Jiangyi, and Linfen that did not carry out Tuntian.

Among them, Anyi and Xiayang are the richest and have a large population, and he has high expectations for these two places. In addition, the population of Puban, Jiexian, Wenxi and Linfen is not too small, and the annual output in previous years was more than 300,000 stones.

Wei Qi went to Jingcheng with the new army this time, and contributed a lot to liaising with all parties and giving advice. Zhang Lu went to Sili, Yanzhou, and Yuzhou to arrange the affairs of the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce.

This time, Hedong and other places are mainly entrusted to the characters in Hedong to deal with, I don't know, I don't know how it will be this year.

Although Wei Qi was born in the Wei family in Hedong, due to the lack of concentration within the Wei family and his personal opinions, he is often able to act impartially when doing things. Tong Yuan specially asked him to inspect various places recently and supervise the collection of taxes and grains in various places.

A few days later, Wei Qi and Pei Ji summarized the situation in various places, and the situation still exceeded his expectations.

A total of 150,000 stone grain and grass were levied in the seven counties. According to the tax rate of 1 out of 10 arranged by Tong Yuan at this time, and considering that some of the mountain and wild wealthy families may be outside the scope of collection, the output of various places is estimated to be close to 2 million stones.

The top two were Anyi and Linfen, and Xiayang, a large county, was recruited by Dong Bai to participate in the battle due to part of the strong labor, and the output ranked third, but it also collected nearly 30,000 stones.

Jiangyi County, which suffered more military disasters, had the lowest yield, less than 10,000 stones. However, the county has just reached 1,000 households, and the corn fields are only close to 70,000 mu, which can be said to be very good under the leadership of Liu Fu.

Tong Yuan discussed with Wei Qi and Pei Ji, and planned to allocate 60,000 stones to Zhang Ji of Hu Chuquan, Han Xian and Hongnong as a thank you gift.

The rest of the grain was received in the warehouses of Xiayang, Anyi, Pishi and Pingyang, and it is estimated that it will be of great use in winter and next spring.

Tong Yuan also considered giving tax exemption to all small farmers, and it happened that he was the new governor of the state and gave all small farmers with household assets within 100 acres of tax exemption. Those who participated in the battle on Xia Yang's side were not only exempt from taxes, but also given financial rewards.

Pei Ji felt that in this arrangement, these Dashi clans had a large commercial scale and reduced industrial and mining benefits, which was possible, but those powerful and large households who operated the land might be slightly dissatisfied.

Tong Yuan listened to the opinions and changed to those under 100 acres, half of the tax will be levied next year, that is, 20 taxes and 1.

Wei Qi and Pei Ji thought that this was very good, not only showing kindness, but also protecting the stability of some small farmers and preventing them from becoming displaced or tenants.

The Han Dynasty 30 tax has become a distant illusion, and it is estimated that in this world, except for some places in Jingzhou, there is absolutely no other way to maintain this tax rate.

In fact, what the Pei family was worried about was not whether the small farmers would go bankrupt, but that their own subordinates and tenants would see the benefits and oppose them, the big landlords. For fear of mass exodus and revolt.

Tong Yuan has experienced a lot of accumulation in later generations, and more or less knows that the landlord cares most about his own land. Therefore, he is not in a hurry to realize tax exemption for small farmers with less than 100 acres, so as not to turn against him from the Hedong Shi clan.

Wei Qi learned something from Tong Yuan's series of actions to reduce taxes. He admired Tong Yuan more, a young man from a powerful landlord, who had such a loving mind, and he wanted to see more and more what kind of path he could take.

After the completion of the autumn harvest in Hedong and other places, Tong Yuan arranged for the construction of a permanent closing position and a little lower price to collect grain, so as to prepare for the next year's green and yellow harvest, so that it can be sold at a low price and relieve the people.

The academic achievements of the Wei family and the Pei family are not because they are stockpiling grain and exploiting small farmers to support the family business, so they are more supportive of this move.

After all, the people live and work in peace and contentment, and their various goods are better sold.

Tong Yuan also discussed the establishment of the Four Seas Merchant Gang with the Hedong Shi clan, and this was the second time that the matter was officially discussed. He informed them of the version, of course, there was no side that would gather intelligence.

The Hedong Shi clan is very supportive of the Four Seas Merchant Gang and is willing to send people to join. Tong Yuan didn't want much, but he planned to build a trading station in Anyi.

The funds for the construction and operation of the trading station were provided by the Hedong Shi clan, and it was planned to arrange fifty people as the personnel of the Hedong Association, and the personnel would be found by Tong Yuan and Zhang Lu. The leader of the gang is temporarily vacant, and the President of the Church plans to be served by Zhang Lu.

For branches in other places, half of the initial capital is funded by the Hedong Shi clan, and the remaining half will be run in the future, which will be funded by local Jianghu people and Shi business travelers.

The purpose of the construction of the Four Seas Merchant Gang is to "provide convenience for caravans and protect the wealth of the people". Regardless of the headquarters or branches, the merchant gang is not allowed to participate in political affairs, and the merchant gang is neutral to the princes, nobles, heroes, and clans in various places.

Some of the members of the merchant gang will be equipped with weapons, mainly to protect the safety of themselves, the caravan, and the people. However, unlike the role of the military, they are not allowed to participate in battles other than those mentioned in the above three articles.

"It's very good, it's a neutral force for the people everywhere, it supports the caravan and protects the people, so that the market can continue," Wei said. It's just that Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu and other places also want to establish branches? ”

Tong Yuan said: "It would be best if it could be established, even if there were difficulties, it could reduce the number of people, but it must not deviate from the purpose of the Four Seas Merchant Gang." ”

Wei Qi, Pei Zheng, Pei Ji and others all felt very good, and soon the funds and connections of each family were also in place. After all, this matter is beneficial to the Hedong Dashi clan, who are in the thoroughfare of all parties.

In terms of manpower, Tong Yuan also selected a few more than ten military officials in the Dreadnought Army who were older or had been wounded, plus more than 20 people from the logistics department of the Tuntian Army, who were very familiar with the management of baggage, to form the first batch of backbones of the Four Seas Merchant Gang.

These people can serve as officers of the Hedong headquarters of the Four Seas Merchant Gang, responsible for the caravan reception, intelligence, assistance, security, and accommodation advice.

The headquarters is located in Anyi, and there are also plans to arrange personnel and venues in major Xiayang, Pishi, Linfen and other counties. Among them, Xia Yang, who has a very important position on the trade road, also established a branch.

However, the branch also needs a few principal members who can preside over the collection of intelligence and summarize and analyze in various places. Regarding Youzhou, he combined the cognition of later generations, and thought that Tian Chou, a hermit and a celebrity, would serve as it. Tian Chou protects the people and hates political affairs, and the purpose of the Four Seas Merchant Gang is estimated to be his appetite.

In addition, it is necessary to attract the participation of heroes in the mountains. Liu Pi and Gong Du of Runan are definitely not good at fighting for hegemony, but providing information on one side and maintaining trade should be a piece of cake.

He also has a slight plan for other areas, but in addition to Zhang Lu, Hedong also needs a good player who can be shrewd and capable. At present, there is no suitable candidate, and it is really not possible, so he can only serve as a political and religious auxiliary general of the Third Army of the Dreadnought Army.

came up with this method, and Tong Yuan personally devoted himself to the construction of the business gang. One year of political, educational, and mobilization work in the army made it easy for him to introduce and mobilize the business and gang officials. In addition, he has a high prestige in this land, and the entire merchant gang is building extremely quickly.

Half a month later, Zhang Lu came back and saw a three-in, three-out merchant gang association in Anyi. The courtyard and its interior were all from the property of the Hedong Shi clan, and they were of course very active in things that would help their business travel and wealth.

The first row of buildings is mainly divided into three parts.

In the middle of the front row is the reception hall, flanked by the caravan affairs area and the Qimin affairs area. The middle row is the warehouse and negotiation area, of which the negotiation area is in the center of the entire house, which can accommodate up to 50 people to discuss affairs. At the back is a rest area for the staff on duty.

The daily affairs of the caravan include liaison and docking, advice on food and accommodation for the caravan's storage, and if you make a contribution, you can use the warehouse of the caravan, or do market exchanges. Of course, intelligence from various places outside Hedong is also specially collected and recorded.

The Qimin Affairs Area mainly deals with various affairs such as local intelligence, local people's property, and security. For example, small-scale pawns for commoners, so that there will be no direct competition with large-scale pawns made by the Tushi clan against the rich.

In just ten days, Tong Yuan got some important information from the caravan.