Youzhou, Jixian County.

Zhao Junsheng stood on the steps of the courtyard of the Assassin's Mansion, and the subordinate officials of the Assassin's Mansion and the officials of all sizes stood in rows in the courtyard below.

"Presumably, you all know the new policy that General Ben is about to promulgate, that is, to pay salaries to all officials and subordinates of the Youzhou Assassin Mansion and the three counties and eighteen counties under its jurisdiction; Pay military salaries to garrisons, state soldiers, county soldiers and county soldiers from all over Youzhou! However, the officials also had to pay one-tenth of their salaries as a tax, and the government would increase a certain amount of taxes on the number of acres of land and property per household in Youzhou to support this expenditure! ”

"It will definitely be difficult to increase taxes to the people, which requires you to find a way to work together, and pay attention to the methods and attitudes when increasing taxes and taxes, so as to maintain majesty and toughness to the people, but not to provoke civil uprising! If someone deliberately makes trouble and deliberately provokes a popular uprising, local governments and officials must respond quickly, severely suppress it, and never tolerate it! ”

"But at the same time, if some officials do not pay attention to the method and provoke a large-scale civil uprising, the assassination of the history of the government will be held responsible, and whoever does a good job and who does not do a good job will be recorded as political achievements. Those with outstanding ability will be given priority to promotion and appointment, and those who have not achieved enough or failed will be punished lightly, dismissed from official positions, and punished with public anger! ”

Speaking of this, Zhao Junsheng's tone changed, and he said earnestly: "Everyone, if you think that you have talent, you can't meet talent, you can't reward meritorious service in the past, and you can't punish if you have a fault, then from now on, this general will give everyone a fair chance, all officials under the rule of Youzhou, regardless of their origin, whether they are noble or low, whether they are princes or high-ranking scholars, or poor families and commoners, as long as they have political achievements and merits, the chances of promotion and promotion are equal, and the punishment after making mistakes is also treated equally, even if they are small officials, As long as he has talent, this general can also consider making an exception to promote, breaking the boundary gap between officials and officials, and promoting minor officials to officials! The opportunity is right in front of you, and it's up to you whether you can grasp it! ”

The officials listened to Zhao Junsheng's promulgation, and they all talked about it.

Many commoners and low-ranking officials saw hope, and their hearts were hot, and the officials of the Gaomen clan and princely vassals were a little unhappy, but there was also competition between these people.

Zhao Junsheng instructed Pei Jin: "Master Pei, you are fully responsible for the collection of taxes, and before the collection of taxes, you must investigate the number of acres and the business of the shops of the levy objects, and anyone who conceals the number of fields and shops will be fined ten times!" Report the progress of tax collection to the official at any time! ”

"Yes, General!"

In the following period of time, tax increases were carried out in various parts of Youzhou, and news continued to come from the three counties and eighteen counties.

Compared with those Xianbei nobles and high-ranking scholars, there was much less resistance to the increase in taxes and revenues of the common people and merchants, and the progress was relatively smooth.

The increase in taxes and incomes for peasants is mainly based on the number of acres of land, and only those who have land at home have to pay a little more tax, and those who do not have land do not have to pay, which alleviates the resistance.

The small landlords, big landlords, families and high-ranking scholars who have a large amount of land are the Xianbei nobles, who not only have acres of land, but also a large number of pastures, and the increase in taxes on this part is the focus of Zhao Junsheng's decree.

In order to avoid paying taxes, almost all the nobles and nobles concealed the number of acres of land from the government, and even the number of shops in the city.

It was much simpler to increase taxes on shops, and officials with their officials went directly to the door to collect taxes from shop to shop, and whoever did not pay them was forced to close their doors and put up seals, and they also had to pay taxes when they set up stalls on the streets.

The most difficult and difficult thing to collect taxes was the collection of taxes from the nobles and nobles who owned a large amount of land, and these people took out the land deeds, and there was a great discrepancy between the books and the actual land they owned.

In order to solve this problem, not to allow the nobles and nobles to take advantage of the loopholes and find out all the acres of land they were hiding, the government could only send a large number of officials and officials to the fields to carry out actual measurement and registration.

But most of the officials in the government were from the noble family and the nobility, how could these officials work hard? They even sent messages to the nobles and nobles who owned large amounts of land and pastures.

The scholars and nobles who had received the news in advance organized many people to block the officials sent by the government from measuring the acres of land in the fields, and there were even incidents in which the officials were beaten to death by the group.

Pei Jin reported to Zhao Junsheng: "General, the Xianbei nobles and scholars have strong opposition to the increase in taxes, the resistance is very great, and it is almost impossible to carry it out at all, those people sent people to obstruct the officials sent by the government, there have been several conflicts, and several officials have been killed in the conflict!" ”

Zhao Junsheng's face turned cold after hearing this, "It seems that a little tough means are going to be used, others are killing chickens and monkeys, and General Ben is going to kill monkeys and chickens this time!" Come! ”

Li Bao walked in and clenched his fists: "What does the general command?" ”

"Send an order to Wei Chi Yandong and Bai Jinguang, so that the Youzhou army is ready to fight!"

"Yes, General!"

Pei Jin couldn't help but ask: "Who is the general going to do it to?" ”

"You'll find out soon!"

Zhao Junsheng, with the assistance of his own soldiers, put on armor and helmets, hung a war knife on his waist, walked out of the hall of the mansion, came to the door, rode a war horse, and led the personal guards to the Youzhou army camp.

In the past two months, Zhao Junsheng has been quite effective in the training and rectification of the Youzhou army and the soldiers and horses under Youzhou, and his authority has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people in the army, even the Xianbei generals are obedient to his military orders, because they have also gained benefits and advantages from the decrees he promulgated.

"General, the three thousand men and horses in Youzhou have all been prepared, and they can go out at any time, please give the general an order!" Wei Chi Yandong clenched his fists and reported to Zhao Junsheng.

Zhao Junsheng shouted: "Everyone listen to the order and set off with me!" ”

The generals followed Zhao Junsheng out of the barracks, Wei Chi Yandong followed behind Zhao Junsheng and stopped talking, he wanted to ask Zhao Junsheng where he was going to take the army, after all, who the army was going to fight with had to have an explanation with the soldiers of the whole army, right?

But Zhao Junsheng obviously didn't mean to tell Wei Chi Yandong, and Wei Chi Yandong didn't want to speak, now that Zhao Junsheng had completely controlled the military and political power of Yan County and Fanyang County, if he worked against Zhao Junsheng, he would definitely not be able to stay here.

It didn't take long for the army to come to a dock fort in the eastern suburbs of Jixian County, and the people on the dock fort saw a large number of soldiers and horses approaching quickly, so frightened that they quickly closed the fort gate, and a fierce gong sounded in the fort, and soon a large number of forts with weapons and bows and crossbows ran up to the city.

The army stopped advancing under the dock fort, and Wei Chi Yandong was no stranger to this place, and he was shocked: "Could it be that the general wants to attack the Babajia?" The general must not, the Baba family served the emperors of the past dynasties, and the credit is very great, although now although the prince has been cut, most of the children are idle at home, but they are well-connected in the court, and there are many protégés and former officials, if the general does something to the Baba family, this will poke the hornet's nest! ”

Since Ba Ba Song supported Tuoba Pi and Tuoba Jian against him, his sons all stood on the opposite side of Tuoba Jian, and when Ba Ba Song died in battle, Tuoba Jian's army swept away Youzhou, Ba Song's sons and grandsons were dismissed and imprisoned one by one, but many court ministers began to intercede for the Ba Ba family, Tuoba Jian wanted to cut the grass and root the Ba Ba family, but the resistance in the court was too great, and all the sons of Ba Ba Song could be dismissed, and the title of the king of Beiping was also deprived.

But in any case, the uprooting family tree has deep roots, and the emaciated camel is bigger than the horse, and its influence in Youzhou and the court is still very great.

Zhao Junsheng turned his head to look at Wei Chi Yandong, and said coldly: "Do you think General Ben doesn't know this?" Today's general is moving the Baba family! General Ben asks you, Ben is going to attack the Dock Fort of the Babal family, do you want to disobey the order? ”

Wei Chi Yandong looked at Zhao Junsheng's eyes and only felt a chill in his heart, he believed that if he disobeyed, Zhao Junsheng would definitely engage him in military justice.

By now, Wei Chi Yandong had no choice but to clench his fists and say: "The last general doesn't dare, the last general is a soldier, the general gives an order, and the last general will absolutely obey!" ”

Zhao Junsheng stopped looking at him, looked up at the dock fort and shouted, "Where is the pulling? ”

A fifty or sixty-year-old veteran appeared at the head of Wubao City, "The old man is uprooted, why did Zhao Tingshi bring a large army to my Wubao?" Could it be that you are going to attack my Baba family's dock fort? ”

Zhao Junsheng shouted loudly: "Ben will give you the Baba family one last chance, and immediately pay the increased taxes according to the actual acres, otherwise don't blame Ben for being polite!" ”

Baba was furious: "Bastard, my Baba family has served the royal family for several generations, and you have worked hard, you a lowly Han man also dares to ride on the head of my Xianbei person to and pee, Xianbei brothers under the city, you are Xianbei warriors, why do you have to obey the orders of a Han man?" ”

Zhao Junsheng's face changed, and he pulled out his sword and was furious: "The Baba family openly confronted the government, obstructed the collection of taxes and revenues, and the whole army listened to the order and prepared to attack the city!" ”

"Woo-woo-woo-" the horn sounded.

A group of Han soldiers rushed over with siege equipment, the archers under the command of the officers approached the wall of the fort and fired arrows at the head of the city, the soldiers carried the siege ladder and shouted to rush to the fort wall, and a huge siege vehicle slowly approached the fort gate covered with iron sheets.

"Kill—" A large number of shouts of killing rang out, and the dense crowd of soldiers rushed towards the city wall with their weapons.

Siege ladders were erected on the city wall, and soldiers bit their swords and climbed towards the city wall with both hands and feet.

"Boom", "Boom", "Boom", "Boom", the huge siege engine rushed under the fort gate, and the soldiers hiding in the siege vehicle hit the fort gate again and again with battering rams.

The fort gate is not comparable in thickness and sturdiness to the city gate, and this siege vehicle is specially made, and every time it hits, a hole appears in the fort gate.

After a quarter of an hour, the fort gate was already full of holes, and with a loud bang, the fort gate collapsed, and the soldiers outside the city roared and poured into the fort with weapons.

At this time, the besieging soldiers had also climbed to the city wall and fought with the burghers.

Half an hour later, Zhao Junsheng led the soldiers into the dock fort, and Ba Ba and his sons and grandsons were all escorted by the soldiers and knelt in front of Zhao Junsheng.