Along the way, Xiang Zhen was chewing on the words that Gao Xiangsheng said.

Gao Xiangsheng gave him a strange feeling.

No matter from that aspect, Gao Xiangsheng should be regarded as a royalist party, and Xue Ping, Han Qi and others should stand on the same front, and now Gao Xiangsheng can go to Lingnan to discuss with his father about the emperor's marriage, it can be seen that Gao Xiangsheng's status in the royalist faction is not low, and he has won the trust of Xue Ping, Han Qi and others.

But along the way, the feeling that Gao Xiangsheng gave him vaguely revealed another layer of meaning.

It's like Texas was able to gather tens of thousands of troops in a very short period of time. Xiang Zhen felt that Gao Xiangsheng deliberately said it to him.

Indeed, this incident shocked Xiang Zhen.

How many soldiers and horses does Li Ze have now? The Twelve Guards of the Tang Dynasty, in the past, did not have many standing soldiers, and only when they were fighting, they would call the government soldiers. But in the hands of Li Ze, the government soldier system was abolished and replaced by a standing army. In addition to the prison guards, the other eleven guards are all fully manned, which is hundreds of thousands of horses.

If you count people like Texas who can be transformed into soldiers at any time, how big is Li Ze's war potential?

You must know that such workshops are not only in Texas, but in Texas, there are more and more concentrated such workshops. In other words, under Li Ze's rule, all such large-scale workshops can be regarded as potential armies.

In fact, Xiang Zhen can also quickly understand such a thing. It is not without such things in Lingnan, for example, the Lingnan sailors often recruit sailors from the fleets of those big merchants to directly enter the army, these people are sailors on civilian ships, but when they reach the sailors, they can become qualified sailors in a very short time.

Having a large number of reservists in the civilian sector without having to pay any military salaries is similar to the government military system in the past. The difference is that these people are more concentrated, easier to train to maintain combat effectiveness, and easier to organize. Moreover, with the affluence of these people, they will inevitably have better armaments.

Think about the strength of Lingnan.

At present, the Lingnan Jiedu envoy can be regarded as having a lot of money, and in the face of the current situation, he is also expanding his armaments year after year, but the standing army is only 50,000. Among them, there are only 30,000 fully equipped troops, and the rest are scattered in various places under their rule to serve as security forces, and there is a place to support them, and the treatment is not good at all.

If you want to fight a big battle, all the soldiers of the government can be conscripted, and the maximum number of people can reach 100,000, which is already the limit that Lingnan can bear now, which has been repeatedly calculated by the staff of the Marshal Mansion. Moreover, it is not possible to raise soldiers and horses of such a scale for more than two years, otherwise, the financial resources will not be able to support it.

From this point of view, in terms of strength, the Xiang clan is indeed incomparable to Li Ze.

Of course, only now.

If the negotiation goes well this time, the Xiang clan will have the name of Zhengda Guangming to expand outward, and with this name, the surrounding families will be better ambushed.

Come to think of it, dealing with the familiar Xiang clan will make them feel more at ease than a completely unfamiliar Li Ze. The Fujian Observation Envoy, the Hunan Observer Envoy, and the Jiangxi Observer Envoy have always had a close relationship with their father, and if they unite with these three families at that time, then why is their strength inferior to Li Ze?

Thinking of this, he was perked up again.

I got on the boat from Dezhou and went all the way along the canal to Wuyi. The canal in Dezhou was originally not in Wuyi, but it took Li Ze several years to connect the two places, so that the canal ships in Dezhou could go straight to Wuyi, and after disembarking at the Moon Bay Wharf, they would change to a horse-drawn carriage and march all the way to Wuyi City.

"Is this Wuyi?" Sitting on the carriage and walking along the flat road, looking at the wide streets, the neatly arranged houses on both sides, and the places that reveal a sense of affluence everywhere, Xiang Zhen asked.

"Far away!" Gao Xiangsheng said with a smile: "This is not even an outer city, it is still seventy or eighty miles away from Wuyi City, and it is so prosperous here, in fact, it is because of this wharf." ”

"Why are the houses so uniform?" Xiang Zhen pointed to the rows of identical courtyards in the distance with some curiosity. "Isn't it possible that you here, there are even rules on what the house looks like?"

Gao Xiangsheng glanced at it, "Oh, that's low-rent housing, I've been away from Wuyi for less than two years, have I already built so much?" ”

"What is low-rent housing?" Xiang Zhen became a curious baby.

"As the name suggests, it's a fairly cheap house." Gao Xiangsheng explained: "The price of land in Wuyi is expensive, and the house price is even more expensive, even if it is rented, it is quite expensive. No matter where you are, there are poor people, and there are many people who can't afford to buy or rent a house, but a place is indispensable for these people, for example, our wharf needs a large number of people who make money by working hard, and we can't let these people sleep on the street at night, right? That's why we have this low-rent housing program. These houses were built at the expense of Wuyi Prefecture, but anyone who has worked in Wuyi for more than three years can apply for such a set of low-rent housing, the house is not big, but it is enough for a family to live. ”

"And such a good thing?"

"This was initiated by Prime Minister Li, and now in the places under the rule of the imperial court, wherever you can spare your hands financially, there are such low-rent houses." Gao Xiangsheng smiled: "Of course, if the income exceeds a certain level, you will lose the qualification to rent such a house." ”

"It's hard to say, I'm obviously more than that, but I don't say no, is it possible that the government can still go to check one by one?" Xiang Zhen smiled.

Gao Xiangsheng nodded: "This is also true, it is true that you can't check them one by one, but the tax department will check them from time to time, and once it is verified, the person who concealed the report will be miserable." You'll be punished for ruining your family. Such a low-rent house only costs two yuan a year, but in Wuyi, renting a set of such a small courtyard requires at least two yuan a month. Once it is found that you have concealed the report, the first penalty is to calculate all the time you rented before according to the ordinary market price, which is not a fine, and it is not counted as a joint loss caused by your deception of the government. If you commit such a thing, it will be difficult to even find something to do in Wuyi, and no one will invite you. ”

Hearing such a severe punishment, Xiang Zhen couldn't help but shake his head, if it was really calculated like this, it would indeed be unworthy.

"Li Xiang's kung fu to buy people's hearts is really amazing!" He shook his head and sighed: "Thinking about such a move, it will definitely make those poor people grateful." ”

"Li Xiang's real means of cleaning up people's hearts are really not on these, these are just some small means at best." Gao Xiangsheng said: "People like this are just a few. Li Xiang's most powerful thing lies in the land policy, do you know how much land Li Xianggui has as a prince? ”

"I heard that no matter who you are here, the land cannot exceed five thousand acres?" To the truth.

"Li Xiang doesn't have an acre." Gao Xiangsheng said: "The original land of the Li family, Li Xiang was all returned to the imperial court, and the imperial court distributed it to those who had no land. ”

"The Li family originally owned millions of acres of land in Zhenzhou, so they handed it over for free?" Xiang Zhen was stunned. "He, if he does this, he is not afraid that someone will say that he has a bad plan?"

"Of course it's not gratuitous." Gao Xiangsheng smiled: "Sell it to the imperial court at a low price." The reason is not that you are afraid that someone will say that he is plotting against him, Li Xiang doesn't care what others say about him at all. ”

"In that case, why do you need to take money?" Xiang Zhen disdainfully said.

Li Xiang said that if he handed it over for free, what would happen to the original land of the ministers and generals under him? Do you have to hand it over for free? He doesn't care, but others also have to support their families, so they sell it at a low price. Gao Xiangsheng said: "With Li Xiangzhuyu in front, others will naturally do the same." The matter has been done, and no one has been offended. ”

"Those people were forced to hand over their land, and they didn't offend anyone?" I don't believe it.

"Because under Li Xiang's rule, the output of the land is no longer the biggest benefit. Business, more money. Gao Xiangsheng laughed and said: "For example, the Moon Bay Wharf where we just got off the ship was built at the same expense of some big landowners in Zhenzhou in the past. Everyone has a lot of money in their hands, and this money can't be buried in the cellar of the house to grow mold, and it is always reasonable to use him to make money, so Li Xiangah has found many businesses for everyone to make a fortune, such as building such docks, for example, building many ships, for example, forming all kinds of businesses, for example, opening all kinds of factories. Compared with these businesses, the output of the land is inevitably too slow to make money. ”

"But land is fundamental." To the truth.

"Of course, land is fundamental, and it is precisely because of this that we have such a policy here. How can a fundamental policy like land allow for large-scale appropriation? Now in Wuyi, the largest landlord only owns no more than 5,000 acres of land, and as far as I know, there are very few people who own 5,000 acres of land now, because our progressive tax system here is really scary. Nearly ninety percent of the land is in the hands of the vast majority of ordinary people, each family, more than 100 acres, less than dozens of acres, are waiting, do you know what this means? It means that the initiative is firmly in the hands of the imperial court. In our place, there is only one object for the sale of land, and that is the imperial court, and land is not allowed to be traded privately. ”

Xiang Zhen nodded, thinking of the land situation in Lingnan, and couldn't help but be silent. In comparison, the small court of Wuyi under the control of Li Ze far exceeded the Lingnan Festival in terms of local control. Although Lingnan commerce is developed, Lingnan still relies on a large number of powerful landlords and gentry to control the local area. Those wealthy businessmen were basically local big landowners. When they have money, they go to buy land, this is their habitual thinking.