After the complete collapse of the former dynasty and the division of the country by the princes of various places, the originally peaceful and peaceful Huayu Continent has become a murderous battlefield with broken mountains and rivers and no sun and moon. However, if there is a loss, there must be a gain, as the so-called 'heroes in troubled times rise from all directions, and if there is a gun, it is the king of grass'! It seems that the Youbei Yan family and the Beiyan Zhou family, who have now ascended the throne and sat in the palace, did not even have a literate person in the family when Dayan was in power!

The Youbei Yan family was originally just a 'private tooth' who was born in 'three and five'. In the era when Dayan was in power, even the people in the official teeth were first-class pariahs, and their status was even more humble than the copper-smelling businessmen; Of course, today's tooth people are no longer the same! After the baptism of the years and the changes of dynasties, the social status of their Ya people has been basically the same as that of the merchants;

As for the Beiyan Zhou family, the background is slightly better than that of the Yan family. Although their Zhou family does not have many scholars, they do have an 'official body' - the father of Zhou Changji, the king of the Northern Yan State, who is said to have been an errand catcher at the yamen. There is a saying called 'prostitution, drama, soap, prison', which shows that the ancestor of their Beiyan Zhou family, the social status at that time was actually quite embarrassing.

However, the Tian family, the Nankang royal family, far south of the Huajiang River, is completely different from the 'lower three indiscriminate' of these two families.

On the inscriptions and ancient books that have survived in the war, there are often some records about the 'Wu Chutian clan'. If the wealth of three generations can raise a natural nobleman; So today's Nan Chutian family doesn't know how many noble titles to add!

At the time of the previous Great Yan, the Tian family at that time was the 'king with a different surname' who was in charge of the Jianghuai Road, and in the Liang Dynasty before the Great Yan, the Tian family was also the person in charge of the entire Jiangnan Province...... The passage of time and the rise and fall of dynasties seem to have no impact on this rainy Jiangnan; The people living here also live in extreme wealth and comfort because the Tian family has always pursued the principle of 'treating light and meager endowments and ruling by doing nothing'.

However, even such a benevolent and righteous monarch has shortcomings that are despised—weakness and fickleness! Their Tian family has never had any loyalty to speak of! Hua Han knelt down Hua Han; Hua Han died and knelt on the sorghum; Liang died and knelt down to Dayan; Da Yan died and knelt down to Beiyan. To this day, there is still a joke about the Tian family on the Huayu Continent: all the land and cities belonging to the Tian family, as long as they are besieged by an army of more than 20 people, even if the enemy is a childish urchin with a slingshot in his hand, they will immediately open the city gate and surrender to these dolls.

As for the temper of the Tian family, whether it is good or cowardly and deceitful, it is a matter of opinion.

The Tian family, who uphold this family style, is no threat to any newly appointed monarch. The more cautious monarchs will also secretly send henchmen to Jiangnan to monitor and make secret visits; There are also many monarchs who once summoned the patriarch of the Tian clan at that time to the capital for trial; But no matter how these kings challenged the bottom line of the Tian family, there was not even a single accident!

How soft can the bones of the Tian family be? According to some ancient records, a certain tyrannical king of the Chinese and Han dynasties listened to the instigation of a traitor, summoned the eldest son of the king of Chu into the capital, and tortured him to death in front of the public; He wanted to take advantage of this incident to test the Tian family's loyalty to the Huahan Dynasty; But when the news of the death of the little prince was transmitted back to Chu, the then king of Southern Chu did not say a word, and even ordered his subordinates to cross the river by boat overnight, and send the second son, who had just turned ten years old, into the capital again!

With such a weak and kind family that is almost without bones, and has rich experience in managing the people of Chudi, which emperor would be interested in him? And the most important thing is that even though the Huayu Continent has been in dispute for thousands of years, only the land south of the Yangtze River under the rule of the Tian family is not only rich in production, but also extremely stable in taxation...... Whoever wants to come, a person with such a temper will never take the initiative to betray the Northern Yan Dynasty......

In the seventeenth year of its founding, Zhou Changji, the founder of the Northern Yan Dynasty, recurred from an old disease and died suddenly. At that time, the Northern Yan Dynasty had been established for less than 20 years, and it was a period of development when spending money like flowing water. However, the total tax revenue paid to the national treasury every year by collecting all the roads and prefectures in the Huayu Continent is not worth seventy percent of the amount paid by the Chu king's family. It is true that Jiangnan is the land of fish and rice, and since ancient times, it has the reputation of "the granary of the world". But in the Northern Yan Dynasty at that time, the people in power were still some 'big bosses' who followed Emperor Wu to fight the country in the early years! Although they are all brave generals on the battlefield, after all, they can't read a single big word, so it is even more impossible to know how to develop the 'Beiyan economy'!

These old people's ideas are very straightforward: they just through the numbers recorded in the ledger, plus the maps and population distribution of various places, they came to a final conclusion: it is not that the state capitals of other places have paid less, but that Jiangnan has paid more!

In their hearts, they think that the Tian family in Jiangnan has silver! These 'overpaid' taxes must have been paid out of his own pocket by the 'kneeling prince', who wanted to rely on this 'bribery' to let the court remember the benefits of the Tian family!

So, these ministers who entrusted the orphans discussed with the queen mother at that time. In the end, under the 'brainstorming', they came up with a new tax policy of 'two benefits' for the imperial court and Nankang......

The seventeenth year of Taiyuan and the end of the year. The six old ministers of the imperial court, together with the empress mother, jointly issued an edict: allowing the king of Southern Chu to handle all tax matters in Jiangnan by himself, without waiting for the court's reply and instructions; Starting from the beginning of next year, the king of Southern Chu will be allowed to sell salt, iron and other official monopoly goods on his own.

Of course, pie never falls from the sky! There is also a handwritten letter from the queen, which was also sent to Jiankang City along with this imperial edict: starting next year, the taxes and fees of Jiangnan Road need to be paid three times the amount of this year; In the future, it will be increased by 20% every year to fill the national treasury, repair rivers, and subsidize people's livelihood.

At that time, the king of Southern Chu had no great ambitions. In the face of such a 'magical' decree, he only instructed his subordinates to copy the edict as it was, and then posted it at the entrance of the state capitals in Jiangnan to announce it to the people of Jiangnan; But it was such a decree of 'coming up with your ass' that instantly created countless rich businessmen and tycoons!

Two years later, Zhou Youxiao, who had not been mourned for three years, was forced to ascend the throne ahead of schedule and cleaned up the mess that was stabbed out by the partnership of those 'ministers who supported orphans'...... However, in just two years, today's Jiangnan has become a different look......

When Zhou Youxiao issued an edict and announced the abolition of the 'salt and iron power' in Jiangnan Province, it was immediately met with great opposition; led by the prime minister of Beiyan at that time, more than eighty percent of the officials reacted extremely fiercely! At the court meeting of the Zijin Palace the next day, the prime minister, together with some old ministers of the former dynasty, scolded the newly appointed Emperor Zhou Youxiao of the first emperor; There are also many people who chose to 'die in the court', and there is even a respected bachelor who died directly on the dragon pillar of the Purple Gold Palace!

Of course, looking back today, the 'Blood Splattered Purple Gold Palace' was just a dirty and despicable 'drama'. Except for the fool who really crashed into the dragon pillar and died, everyone was a 'dramatist' who was paid by others.

So, Zhou Youxiao, who was only 20 years old, with his transcendent wisdom, tossed with these 'moths' for another five years before he completely cleaned up those shameless officials in the court; but when he finally freed his hands and turned his eyes back to Jiangnan, the king of Southern Chu, who had been weak and deceitful for thousands of years, suddenly announced that he would break away from Beiyan, establish himself in Nankang, and rule the river with the Northern Yan Dynasty!

With the passage of time, many of the 'earth-shattering secrets' of the year have now been solved. In fact, today's Southern Chu Emperor Tian Wenqing is only a nominal emperor; Although he now lives in the Jiankang Palace, enjoying the worship of the ministers of Nankang, and also has three thousand beauties in the harem, enjoying the scenery of the royal garden, he no longer has actual decision-making power over the affairs of Nankang.

To put it more bluntly, today's Emperor Nankang is just a 'mud puppet' placed on top of the 'incense case', and the people who are actually in power in Nankang today are those wealthy businessmen who suddenly 'took advantage of the situation' in the vacuum period of the transfer of power in the Northern Yan Dynasty!

In addition to the Youbei Sanlu, which is regarded as a 'wild place', the Northern Yan Dynasty at that time had actually occupied the entire Huayu Continent;

Therefore, in the hearts of every Beiyan person, Youbei Sanlu is just a small disease of scabies; And their real troubles are those original compatriots and siblings of Nankang, and today's sworn enemies of neighbors!

Zhou Changan, who was poked in the sore spot, quickly changed his face several times; Even the vague expression that seemed to be slightly drunk just now became extremely sober at this time!

“… Shen Taichu, this king invited you to come to the banquet today, originally with a sincere heart! But if you don't appreciate it, it's just that, how can you ...... it?"

"Brother Baili has misunderstood! Shen never meant to reveal Beiyan's scars; In Shen's view, the disaster of Nankang at the beginning cannot be all blamed on that untimely decree. Giving merchants great convenience is indeed a right way to fill the treasury; It's just that the executors of any decree, including those who benefit and those who suffer, are all living people! Therefore, according to Shen, the reason why Emperor Jianxing of Northern Yan failed on the issue of Nankang cannot be blamed entirely on that untimely decree......"

"Then Brother Taichu thinks that the key mistake that led to the disaster of Nankang, what is wrong?"

"According to Shen's guess, Emperor Jianxing should have used the wrong person back then!"

After listening to this answer, the rich expression of the fourth prince Zhou Chang'an disappeared in an instant; His right hand, with its jade wrench, struck the table with a rhythmic sound; It wasn't until the sound of Shen Gui opening the wine jar woke him up that he continued to praise:

"It is worthy of Li Qiyuan's quasi-son-in-law, and his opinion is indeed different! Well, now you're qualified to talk to me on an equal footing. In the next time, let's talk about 'business' in detail! ”