June of the fifth year of Xingping

Qin Hua returned to Chang'an City after a long absence.

This was the first time Qin Hua felt like he was going home after coming to the Eastern Han Dynasty, especially during the three months of captivity, Qin Hua thought of his home in Chang'an countless times.

During the day, he handled official business in the government office, and went back at night to be accompanied by Cai Yan and others.

I can walk my dog and tease Cai Yan's biao when I have nothing to do, and now I think about it is really an extremely happy thing.

Although he had returned to Chang'an, Qin Hua did not immediately start dealing with things, because his hands were injured, Qin Hua had been recuperating at home for three months.

During this time, there was not peace in the territory, and the finances of the territory were very difficult because of the huge ransom paid.

In many places, the people were suffering from the sudden forced taxation, and the families were constantly demanding more power because they had contributed a lot of money to the matter.

What was once a thriving territory seemed to have turned into turmoil in a short period of time.

Fortunately, with the maneuvers of Jia Xu, Xun You and others, there was no major chaos in the territory, and there were 200,000 troops stationed on the edge of Chang'an guarding Zhang Liao, so there was no such thing as a rebellion.

In October, Qin Hua appeared in the government for the first time.

Under Hua Tuo's careful treatment, Qin Hua's hands were no longer harmed, although there were some sequelae, but it did not affect his work.

It's just that if you want to return to your previous force, you still need to train hard.

"My lord, the Guo family in Liangzhou has been in close contact with the Xiongnu nobles recently..."

"The lord, and several families in the state have united to seek the position of Taiyuan County Guard..."

"My lord, the families of the Chamber of Commerce want to reduce the business tax, and ask the military to send troops to escort their caravans for free..."

"My lord, there are many bandits in the state, and they are all under the banner of yellow turbans..."

"My lord..."

Not long after Qin Hua sat down, the officials who were dealing with political affairs handed Qin Hua those things that they couldn't decide.

"Alright, let's stop for a moment."

Qin Hua said coldly to those people.

"Let's put these things aside for a while, I came today to announce something."

As he spoke, Qin Hua took out a piece of paper from his arms and handed it to Jia Xu.

"Wenhe, take a look, is there anything that needs to be modified?"

Taking the paper handed by Qin Hua, Jia Xu began to read, only to see that his face changed at the beginning.

"Lord, please think twice, posting this thing will affect the prestige of the lord."

"Hehe, what prestige do I have now, Wen He and read it first."

Qin Hua smiled bitterly and said to Jia Xu.

Hearing Qin Hua's words, Jia Xu could only continue to watch.

After a long time, in the puzzled eyes of everyone, Jia Xu finished reading the full text, and they were all waiting for Jia Xu's opinion.

"My lord, the decrees written here are very good and can be implemented, but forget the previous paragraph."

Unable to resist curiosity, Xun You came to Jia Xu's side, took the piece of paper, and saw three big characters on it at first glance: The Book of Sins.

"Think twice, lord."

"It's okay, it's all because of me, but I don't regret it. But for the people, it has become a great problem, and I must express it. ”

After the other officials read the paper, they also joined the ranks of persuasion, but Qin Hua insisted on doing so.

So soon, Qin Hua's guilty letter was posted on bulletin boards everywhere.

Originally, Jia Xu meant not to let the people on the side of the bulletin board read it, and the people could read it, and if they couldn't understand it, forget it.

But Qin Hua insisted on reading it all like the previous official documents, firstly, it would not have his original meaning to cover it up, and secondly, he was worried that someone would misinterpret the meaning and mislead the people.

As soon as the announcement came out, the people were in an uproar.

Although they couldn't understand why Qin Hua suddenly wanted to levy additional taxes, the various complicated taxes in other places were also considered to be in the past.

It's just that the sudden imposition of such a large tax this time is a bit unresponsive.

But after listening to the announcement, they all understood that Qin Hua, the emotional hussar general, was actually "kidnapped" by someone, and it was the four bigwigs who committed the crime together.

Although he was still a little dissatisfied with the sudden imposition of taxes, the hatred of the people slowly turned to Cao Cao and others.

After all, Qin Hua was also forced to do it, and they didn't want to lose such a good monarch, you must know that except for sudden taxes, Qin Hua had always only levied very light taxes before, and other places, even Cao Cao's territory, could not have such a low tax.

And Qin Hua also made compensation measures in the announcement.

If this additional tax is paid, the Chang'an government will return it in full after three years, and pay an additional 30% interest.

On this basis, Qin Hua also issued a new decree, that is, the issuance of treasury bonds.

Of course, it cannot be called a national debt in name, but it only tells the people that they can continue to donate food and money to the government for a certain period of time, and this money will increase at a rate of 10% every year.

And those who donate a lot will get other benefits, such as exemption from conscription, exemption from military service, etc., of course, being a soldier under Qin Hua is considered an advantage or disadvantage, and many people can't ask for it.

At the same time, Qin Hua also ordered a vigorous rectification of the officials who had corrupted the law in that forced expropriation, and compensated the families who had been harmed by their refusal to pay taxes.

The above is an explanation to the people, for the family, Qin Hua did not have a special policy to issue, he has always regarded the family as an ordinary person.

In addition to the explanation to the people, Qin Hua also began to reduce expenses, in addition to reducing his own treatment (which is regarded as a punishment for himself), the bulk is naturally the army's expenses.

Now there are 200,000 main troops under Qin Hua's command, plus the border guards, city guards, etc., adding up to more than 300,000.

In order to be able to survive the immediate difficulties, Qin Hua decided to reduce the establishment of 100,000 troops.

The city defense army and the border defense army cannot move, and what can be reduced is the main mobile force.

The army was ordered to conduct its own competition and screening, select the best to stay, and all the rest were sent home.

Because of the lack of finances in Chang'an Prefecture, the severance pay can only pay for three months' military salary.

When screening the people who remained, Qin Hua selected the most elite three thousand people from among them to supplement the Xuanjia Cavalry.

In this incident, Qin Hua was not particularly distressed by the huge ransom, nor was he sad for his hands, what he was most sad about was that the Xuanjia cavalry he had established was almost wiped out.

Of the three thousand most elite Xuanjia cavalry under Qin Hua's command, in the end, there were only more than 100 people left who could continue to serve in the army, and most of the rest were all killed in battle, and even if many escaped alive, they would never be able to go to the battlefield again.

Because of this incident, Chang'an Mansion, which has attracted much attention, posted Qin Hua's guilty letter, and of course it quickly spread all over the world.

For a while, the world was in an uproar, such as Liu Biao, Sun Ce and others, at first they were very worried about this five-family alliance, but after getting Qin Hua's letter of guilt, they were relieved, it turned out that there was no real alliance, and it seemed that Qin Hua also seemed to have a big enmity with the other four.

At the same time, they also greatly admired Qin Hua's ability to write a letter of guilt, and in this era of valuing fame, it takes great courage to openly admit one's mistakes.

Qin Hua's courage made many people have a great change in their opinion of him, originally they just thought that Qin Hua was a Western Liang martial artist, but they didn't expect him to have such a mind.

"It seems that I still underestimate Qin Hua."

Cao Cao slapped the information he received on the table, and began to think in his heart whether he had made the right decision to let him go back in the first place, or should he directly kill Qin Hua against the retaliation of the Liangzhou army?

But now it's too late to think about this, Cao Cao brought Cheng Yu over and continued to discuss the matter of Xu Du.

After pitting Qin Hua, Cao Cao not only did not have to worry about Luoyang's attack, but also had enough materials to develop the territory.

Moreover, after a short alliance with Yuan Shao and others, there was no need to worry about their attacks, and Cao Cao finally had time to completely eliminate the opposition forces in Xu Du.

According to Cao Cao's eyeliner in the palace, Liu Xie had secretly ordered Dong Cheng, Wu Zilan and others to overthrow their status.

And Liu Bei, the "new upstart of Xudu", seems to be involved.

Cao Cao has been trying to win over Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, but until now, Guan Yu seems to have accepted a little, but Zhang Fei is indifferent.

"How many times has Liu Xuande been in contact with Dong Cheng?"

"At present, there is only one time, and Liu Bei didn't seem to go to the banquet in Dong Cheng's mansion last night."

"Huh? It seems that this man is a bit interesting, so let me see his options. If Liu Xuande falls to Dong Cheng's side, then don't blame me for not being emotional. ”

"Lord Qi, Liu Bei asks to see."

"Liu Bei?"

Cao Cao glanced at Cheng Yu, he had just said that he was talking about this person, and he actually came.

"Okay, invite him to the study."

"Yes."

Not long after the guards left, Liu Bei hurriedly walked in.

"I've seen Cao Gong."

"It's Xuande, I don't know what I came here today."

"Qi Qi Cao Gong, Bei is a member of the Han family, but he has never been able to find a way to serve the country. I heard that there were Yellow Turban thieves in the vicinity of Xinye, so I came here to ask Gong Cao for permission to go to Xinye to suppress the Yellow Turban rebellion. ”

"I see, Xuande's loyalty to the country is admirable, how could I not allow it? It's just that Xinye is under Liu Jingzhou, you need to negotiate with Liu Jingzhou, and you can't act rashly. ”

"Yes."

Liu Bei replied respectfully.

"In this way, then I will write to the imperial court, show you as the Taishou of Nanyang, and allocate another 3,000 soldiers and horses to you to help you quell the chaos."

"Thank you, Gong Cao."

As soon as Liu Bei wanted to say goodbye and leave, he heard Cao Cao say again: "I heard that Dong Guozhang had a banquet last night, I don't know if Xuande participated." ”

"If you only think about Xinye today, how can you have time to attend the banquet."

"I see, since Xuande is so worried about state affairs, then I won't delay, you go back and clean up and set off as soon as possible."

"Then Liu Bei will leave."

Looking at Liu Bei's distant figure, Cao Cao's complexion slowly sank.

"This person is really as Zhicai said, the city is quite deep, it seems that it is better to get rid of it as soon as possible."

"What the lord said is very true, when Liu Bei attended Dong Cheng's banquet that day, he should have found that there were our people watching, and he has not been there since."

"That's it, let's deal with this matter after Dong Cheng's matter, and this person's second brother Guan Yu is indeed a talent, and Liu Bei's matter will be talked about later."

Qin Hua's guilty book also passed into the hands of Yuan Shao and others, and Yuan Shao and others only expressed their disdain for Qin Hua's actions, such as this kind of thing, even if they were killed, it would be impossible to do it.

Now they are still in the joy of making a windfall, Yuan Shao and Lu Bu are vigorously expanding their armaments and enhancing their military strength.

As for Yuan Shu, he used this wealth to build a new palace.

It has been a long time since he got the jade seal of the heirloom, although Yuan Shu did not dare to rashly claim the emperor, but his life was almost the same as that of an emperor.

"Lord, it has been arranged over there in Luoyang."

Xun You handed a stack of papers to Qin Hua's face, this was Luoyang's handling plan.

Although Qin Hua was captured this time, and the Xuanjia Cavalry was almost lost, it was not without gain.

First of all, the 100,000 people from the vicinity of Taishan County have been safely transferred to Luoyang, and secondly, the 50,000 troops in Ju County have not been attacked by Cao Cao's coalition army, they were only asked to leave all the materials and equipment, and they were all sent back to Luoyang.

Cao Cao's move was to further consume Qin Hua's finances, and an extra 50,000 mouths to eat was not a small amount.

This batch of people had nothing but body covering, which would inevitably be a heavy burden for Qin Hua.

However, Cao Cao did not get too many benefits from Ju County, Xu Huang did not directly follow Cao Cao's order to hand over Ju County, he only led 50,000 people to Luoyang according to Cao Cao's order after hearing that Qin Hua was captured and sent people to verify it with Nighthawk's people.

Before leaving, Xu Huang had discussed with Zang Ba and burned most of the grain and grass before Cao Cao took over Juxian.

However, Qin Hua did not regard these 50,000 people as a burden at all, after these years of turmoil, the population of the world has already been greatly reduced, and the fields are not a problem at all, I am afraid that there will be no one to cultivate them.

After receiving this group of people, Qin Hua, together with the previous 100,000 people, selected 20,000 people from them to form a new Taishan army.

Luoyang had a population of no less than one million at its peak, and now even if you add these 150,000 people, it is less than 300,000, and there is no place to settle at all.

As for the issue of rations, through the sale of treasury bonds, Qin Hua still has some money in his hands, and seeing that the autumn harvest is coming, it should not be a big problem to support the autumn harvest next year.

"My lord, now that the financial situation is in difficulty, should the construction of the road be postponed? There is also the establishment of medical centers in various places. ”

"Nope."

Qin Hua immediately refused.

"In addition to these, we will continue to add new public schools, and now that there are many students, it is not difficult to find a teacher, and I want to have a public school and a government hospital in every city within three years. As for the construction of roads, it can only be partially abandoned first. However, the road from Wuwei County to Chang'an must be built first. ”

Qin Hua said helplessly, the infrastructure construction cannot be stopped, and it seems to consume a lot in the early stage, but after it is formed, it feels that it can bring countless benefits.