Bai Minzhong pondered for a moment, looked at Ding Jian and said, "Da Lang, we all know what you mean. Li Ze is strong, but Zhu Wen is not weak, and at the moment, for us, the threat of Liang Jun is even more imminent. ”

Li Jian smiled and said, "Father-in-law, did that generation of Chao also send someone over?" ”

Bai Minzhong nodded: "Your father and I have met his messenger. ”

"Da Lang, Dai Chao has already gathered more than 20,000 troops, and the reason why he hasn't launched an attack on us yet is because he is preparing a ship sailor, and once he has prepared enough ships, Jing Nan is afraid that a war will ignite."

"So, you're ready to compromise with them?" Ding Jian sneered.

"Jingnan has not seen war for many years, it was originally a peaceful place, once the smoke rises, then the lives will be charred, and everything is just afraid that it will come to naught." Ding Ci sighed and said. "If it weren't for you, we would have ...... long ago"

"Father-in-law, father, have you planned for the future?" Ding Jian unceremoniously interrupted his father's words and said, "Once the pseudo-Liang is surrendered, when the Tang army comes over in the future, how can the Ding and Bai families deal with themselves?" ”

"It is not yet known who killed the deer!" Ding Xiang said disapprerovingly. "The Zhu family occupies Guanzhong and dominates the Central Plains, and now Zhu Youzhen is coming south from two roads, and looking at the south, who can be their opponent? Once the Zhu family annexes the entire south, Li Ze may not be able to win! ”

"Second Uncle turned out to be optimistic about pseudo-Liang?" Ding Jian laughed.

"It's not optimistic, it's just that Li Ze is far away from us right now, and Dai Chao is close to us, if we don't compromise, we will be overturned." Ding Xiang shook his head and said, "Even if it is an expedient measure, it is helpless." ”

"If you all have such an idea, then now I dare to assert that the century-old family business of the Ding Bai clan is only afraid that this generation will be over." Ding Jian snorted coldly.

"Why?" Ding Xiang said: "Where is Li Ze, isn't there still you?" ”

"When the time comes, change course?" Ding Jian laughed: "Capricious, grass on the wall, both sides upside down, uncle, will this work?" Whether it's Li Xiang or Zhu Wen, can they tolerate it? ”

Being pressed by Ding Jian step by step, Ding Xiang became annoyed: "Da Lang, even if we take refuge in Li Ze as you said, can he help us resist Dai Chao?" If not, then what's more? We have to save to be serious. ”

"It's better to rely on others than on yourself!" Ding Jian Huoran got up and said, "Otherwise, what am I going to do when I come back?" Father-in-law, father, second uncle and third uncle, before I returned to Jiangling, I went to Yueyang first. ”

Bai Minzhong was stunned: "The matter of Dongting Lake, is it your handiwork?" ”

"I'm just an executor." Ding Jian said indifferently: "A few years ago, the imperial court had already laid out the layout of Dongting Lake, and now, we have unified the Dongting Lake Naval Division, three hundred warships, nearly 5,000 soldiers have been in place, and Qian Biao, the governor of Yueyang, has already declared himself a vassal to the imperial court." In Yangzhou, General Li Hao's inland water division will be fully completed within half a year, and at that time, this inland water division will be able to go south along the Yangtze River and connect Yueyang and Jingnan. Dai Chao wants to build a sailor, dreaming, right? After we defeated Zhu Youzhen in Yueyang, the sailors would be able to go straight down the Yangtze River to Jingzhou. ”

Speaking of this, Ding Jian sneered again and again: "Dai Chao doesn't have a strong sailor to control the Yangtze River, so he wants to annex our Jingnan, it's just a dream." Father-in-law, father, if he lies and threatens you, are you afraid? ”

"It's not that I'm afraid." Ding Ci shook his head and said: "Even if there is no sailor, but Dai Chao is strong after all, and we are really not opponents when we fight on land. Dai Chao just wants us to be ministers and pay tribute, but he is just giving up some money and rice. ”

Ding Jian shook his head and said, "Father-in-law, father, we have also lost the most important thing, integrity. Without these things, what face will our Ding and Bai families have in the court in the future? To put it mildly, in the future, after the court rules the world, it will be settled after the autumn, which is the death of our two families. ”

"Da Lang is sure that Li Ze will definitely win?" Ding Ci asked rhetorically.

Ding Jian sat down, took a sip of tea, looked at Bai Minzhong and said, "Father-in-law, how much income did we have in Jingnan last year?" ”

Bai Minzhong was stunned, glanced at Ding Ci with some embarrassment, and said after a while: "There are about seven or eight hundred thousand yuan!" ”

"That's a lot!" Ding Jianshu laughed: "It can compare to the income of a mansion when I was the assassin in the river." But father-in-law, the territory of Jingnanjie Town is much larger, and the number of people is ten times larger, why is the income so small? I'm afraid that it's not that the income is less, but that the income goes into the treasury less! In the entire Jingnan, most of the income has gone into the Bai family, and the Ding family still has the pockets of large and small gentry, right? ”

Bai Minzhong and Ding Ci both stared at Ding Jian in annoyance.

"Then let me ask my father-in-law again, how many of these 800,000 guan are used on the people of Jingnan?" Ding Jian didn't care, and then asked. "For example, building bridges and roads, building water conservancy, repairing rivers, helping the poor, and building schools?"

There was silence in the room.

Ding Jian let out a long sigh.

"This time I came back, and the official road I walked was in tatters, worse than it was seven years ago. Jingnan, the land of fish and rice, can be seen everywhere along the way, beggars can be seen, and people who are not clothed abound. Even in Gangneung Fuzhong, if we go to the streets at this moment, homeless people can be seen everywhere. ”

Ding Fenggan laughed: "There are always some lazy people who don't want to work, and there are always some people who are not good at management, what does this have to do with your judgment that Li Ze will win?" ”

"Third uncle, how can it be okay?" Ding Jian smiled bitterly and said, "I told a few elders earlier that the imperial court earned 70 million yuan last year, do you know how much money Li Xiang invested in people's livelihood?" ”

"How much?"

"Nearly 20 million." Ding Jian said: "This money was used to build bridges and pave roads, build water conservancy, assist the poor, and build schools. ”

Once again, the crowd was speechless.

"In fact, seven years ago, except for a very few places, the north was still extremely difficult, much worse than my Jingnan, but seven years have passed, it is really earth-shaking changes, I have witnessed all this, so I decided to work for Li Xiang. Because I see hope. Ding Jian said sincerely: "You haven't been to the north, so you can't experience all this at all." Do you know how much the imperial court earned last year was 70 million yuan, and in the end, how much was saved? ”

No one answered.

"The final surplus of the imperial court is only two million taels." Ding Jian looked at everyone with a smile: "Surprised, right? At the beginning, I also wondered, the imperial court made more money, but the speed of spending money was faster, where was the money spent? In addition to raising the army and officials, the rest of the money was spent on the common people. This is the most thorough way I've ever seen taking from the people and using it for the people. In the words of Li Xiang, the court is not as rich as the people. ”

"Why do I conclude that Lee Sang will win in the future? Because of the people's will. Ding Jian walked around the house a few times and said: "The common people in the north are rich, and after they get rich, they want to keep their family business and the fruits of their struggle, so they can't tolerate failure." They firmly support the imperial court and Li Xiang, because supporting these is equivalent to supporting them to live a good life like this, and they can get better and better. The soldiers fought, not only for the imperial court, but also for themselves. ”

"Father-in-law, father, what about our Jingnan?" Ding Jian looked at the two elders mockingly: "Jingnan is rich only a few, and the poor are the majority, if the enemy fights, why should the people work for us?" They have nothing to protect at all, in their opinion, we have failed, they are just a different master, how did they live in the past, and they will not live like this in the future? ”

"Jing Nan can barely survive, but now in the area ruled by the pseudo-Liang, he can't even barely survive." Ding Jian said: "Zhu Youzhen, why did Dai Chao desperately go south, because they wanted to plunder the south to fill the big hole under their jurisdiction, but everyone knows that this practice of demolishing the east wall and repairing the west wall can last for a long time?" You really believe that once you surrender the pseudo-Liang, you can solve the problem with just a little money and food, and it is a bottomless pit, a bottomless pit that we can't fill even if we put all our savings into it. It's still peacetime, and once the imperial court launches a war for unification, their plundering of the south will only get worse, so how will my father-in-law and father deal with it at that time? Does Jingnan have so much money and food? ”

Bai Minzhong was silent for a moment, looked at Ding Jian and said, "Da Lang, what you said is also reasonable, but you also have to understand one thing, that is, we are incompatible with the policies implemented by Li Ze. Even if, as you said, our alliance with Zhu Wen will eventually cause our Bai Ding and Ding clans to suffer, but if we can return to Li Ze, will the Bai Ding clan survive? We know exactly what you do in the river. ”

"Father-in-law, the trend of the times, wherever the trend goes, no one can avoid it, like the two of us now, it is impossible to continue to treat a place as their own private property, such a situation has only appeared in the past 20 years, as long as there is a strong central power, such a thing will never be allowed." Ding Jian said: "It's too late to turn around now, turn around now, what we have lost is just land, local power and the power to kill and seize the lives of others." ”

"Without these, how can the Bai Ding clan continue to be brilliant?" Ding Xiang asked rhetorically.

"Why don't you take a look at Jin Mantang!" Ding Jian sneered: "He used to be just a small salt merchant, but now, he has tied his huge business with the entire imperial court, and that is the real rest with the country." Compared to his vision, we are frogs at the bottom of a well. ”