The new Shangzhou, under the operation of Wu Qining, Shan Chengxiong and others, set sail again in the prayers of the people in accordance with the system of the Mandate of Heaven Governor's Office, and the first thing they did when they took office was land redistribution.

All the land that originally belonged to Shangzhou, no matter who the owner was, had to be redistributed, according to the standard of twenty-five mu per ding, the land close to Shangzhou City was mainly distributed to the residents of the city, and all men, regardless of age, status, or wealth, were the same.

At the same time as the distribution of land, population registration is also being carried out, and now Shangzhou does not levy a poll tax, and the people do not have to worry about the population problem, they are all actually registering the population at home, but those who deliberately take the territory will be severely punished, and even cancel the right to land distribution.

While registering the population and allocating land, the officials also publicized to the common people that starting next year, all land would be subject to taxes, from the governors and government officials to the soldiers, merchants, and peasant households.

Li Zicheng distributed land to all the people in order to ensure that everyone had something to eat, Shangzhou is not a prosperous commercial city, it is completely business, except for a small number of large households, it is difficult to have enough food and clothing, with farmland, there is food security, and the officials allocated land, mainly to play a leading role, in the face of taxes, everyone is equal, everyone has the obligation to pay taxes.

For officials and businessmen, it is difficult for them to have time to farm the land themselves, but they can rent out the cultivated land, in addition to paying taxes and paying commissions to the people on behalf of the cultivators, there is always some surplus, which is equivalent to nothing, and they naturally become the pioneers of paying taxes.

Compared with the agricultural tax, the collection of industrial and commercial tax on merchants makes merchants very dissatisfied.

Ordinary merchants, like the common people who farmed, originally also bore the salaries, training salaries, and expulsion salaries of the imperial court, and only officials, wealthy merchants, and gentry could be spared, but in addition to these three salaries, the imperial court originally did not levy industrial and commercial taxes.

The Mandate of Heaven Army came to Shangzhou, canceled the Liao, Lian, and Suppression Salaries, whether it was a farmer or a businessman, it was very welcome, but the peasants should bear the agricultural tax, which was a matter of course, and it had been the case for thousands of years, but the businessmen had to pay the industrial and commercial tax, but it was groundbreaking, at least since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the industrial and commercial tax was rarely taxed, why did the Mandate of Heaven Army levy industrial and commercial tax?

Wu Qining and Shan Chengxiong initially distributed land, all of which were for the people in the city, basically concentrating all the industrial and commercial households in Shangzhou, and in the face of such a problem, when they registered the population and allocated land, they also went door-to-door to publicize the law of the Mandate of Heaven: Only merchants with an annual income of 50 taels need to pay industrial and commercial tax, and merchants with an annual income of less than 50 taels will not be taxed for the time being.

The imperial court levied taxes and raised taxes for the lowest class of the people, but the tax law of the Mandate of Heaven was the opposite, mainly for merchants, gentry, and officials whose wealth was relatively concentrated.

Maybe this does not meet the requirements of the times, in the era of underdeveloped industry and commerce, mainly to the people to tax, can protect the germination of industry and commerce, so that industry and commerce grow rapidly, and when the development of industry and commerce matures, you can feed back agriculture, and even cancel agricultural taxes, but now in China, whether it is the territory of the imperial court or the territory of the Mandate of Heaven, the people are already in hardship, and the Mandate of Heaven Governor's Office must first ensure that the people "have something to eat", as for the development of industry and commerce, although Li Zicheng attaches great importance to it, but his status has taken a back seat.

When Wu Qining of Zhizhou allocates land, he will sign a tax payment agreement with the merchant, and those who refuse to sign the tax agreement will suspend the distribution of land and dispose of it after the land distribution is completed.

There are also some merchants who have poor policies and want to conceal part of their income when their annual income reaches 50 taels next year, so that their annual income becomes less than 50 taels, so they do not need to pay industrial and commercial tax.

In order to give these people the opportunity to turn over a new leaf, the state government will also sign a tax contract with them, if the annual income is indeed less than 50 taels, naturally there is no need to pay industrial and commercial tax, once tax evasion is detected, they must pay double the industrial and commercial tax, if necessary, they will also cancel the right to land allocation, and even arrest and prison.

Zu Xiandian is a judge, has no right to interfere in civil affairs, and does not participate in the distribution of land, but he hurriedly opened the yamen, recently, there are no criminal cases, heard that some merchants may circumvent the law, so he took the initiative to take the incident, and strictly examine the actual annual income of these merchants.

The Mandate of Heaven Army does not levy taxes this year, but it can be used as a reference for next year's taxation, and the merchants who originally had some worries couldn't help but muttered in their hearts when they saw that they were on the blacklist of the Inquisitor.

When the civil affairs of Shangzhou were operating normally, Li Zicheng took Zheng Guodong out of the North City Gate.

Last time he told Li Zicheng that along Danshui, in the northwest, not far from Shangzhou, there was a Dinglong Mountain, on which a small pass could be built.

Looking at it on the spot, if it can really prevent the Ming army in Xi'an from moving south, Li Zicheng will naturally repair the original pass to the military fortress of the city, and if there is no substantial effect, there will be no need to work the people and lose money.

Outside the north city gate, along the direction of Danshui, is an ancient official road, the flatness is not ideal, but the width is not bad, under the visual inspection, at least one zhang wide, and the direction of Danshui is basically the same.

"Dadu Governor, this is the official road, also called Shangshan Road, there was maintenance during the Wanli period, in the Spring and Autumn Period, it is said that it is called Shangyu Ancient Road......" Zheng Guodong has been stationed in Shangzhou for a long time, and the ins and outs of this official road have taken place in the war on this pipeline, which is eloquent.

Unconsciously, a mountain peak appeared majestically in front of him, Li Zicheng looked up, the mountain is not high, but it is very steep, halfway up the mountainside, there are faintly some thatched houses made of bricks and stones.

Zheng Guodong saw Li Zicheng stop his horse, and hurriedly said: "Metropolitan Governor, this is Dinglong Mountain!" ”

Dinglong Mountain? Li Zicheng turned around along the peak for most of the circle, how can not see the sign of "dragon", the left side of Dinglong Mountain is nestled in the valley, can not be bypassed, the right side is basically facing the official road, if you build fortifications on the mountainside, you can block the official road with a bow and arrow.

He didn't speak, thought for a moment, and then pointed to the thatched hut halfway up the mountain, and said, "This is what you call Dinglong Village?" ”

"This is just a sporadic thatched hut, and the real Dinglong Village is in the east," Zheng Guodong pointed to the east and said, "This was originally a village built by the people spontaneously, but the government thought that the village was too dangerous and might block the Shangshan Road, so it forcibly relocated the people." ”

Li Zicheng decided to take a look at the cottage, so he got off the war horse, followed Zheng Guodong, and climbed Dinglong Mountain along the winding trail in the mountains.

Zheng Guodong followed up and said, "Governor, if this place is built as a military fortress, the east can see the situation of Bears Ears Mountain and know the movement of the troops; The north can choke Ma Street, and cut off 600 merchants on the ancient road; The official road to the southeast can be relied on by the state city; Looking south at the south of Qinchuan, you can see the enemy who enters the business from the south from afar. ”

Li Zicheng nodded, the South Qinchuan in the south, he already had an idea, the main thing was to deal with the invading enemy in the north, if the battlefield was placed in Dinglong Mountain, it could ensure the safety of Shangzhou in the rear, at least it would not cause damage to Shangzhou City.

Dinglong Mountain is only fifteen miles away from Shangzhou, as long as you can hold Dinglong Village, you can quickly get supplies from Shangzhou......

"Guodong, in your opinion, how should this Dinglong Village be repaired?"

Zheng Guodong won the trust of the Metropolitan Governor, and was very happy in his heart, "Metropolitan Governor, this was originally just a village where the people lived, and the outer wall must be thickened, and the stone walls on both sides must extend to the ...... of the mountain."

Li Zicheng glanced at all sides, feeling that the outer side of the battle was too small, if the Ming army attacked, Dinglong Village faced the side of the official road, less than two hundred steps, if it was archery, at most there were about two hundred soldiers, it was difficult to really block the official road, if the Ming army broke through the official road, it was possible to besiege Dinglong Mountain on all sides, cut off the supply line of the Heavenly Mandate Army, or it was possible to directly attack Shangzhou.

His goal is to put Zheng Guodong's thousand households in Dinglong Village.

"Guodong, if you are allowed to garrison Dinglong Village, do you think you can block the official road and prevent the Ming army from going south to Shangzhou?"

"This ......"

"Guodong, on this side facing the official road, you can put up to two hundred archers, in case you encounter the army of the imperial court, even if all a thousand households are stationed in Dinglong Village, it will be difficult to block the official road!"

Zheng Guodong's face was a little unsightly, and he said, "My subordinates didn't expect this problem...... The Governor ......"

Li Zicheng looked at Dinglong Mountain behind him and said, "Guodong, there are a lot of boulders on the mountain, if the outer wall is built into two layers, no, three layers, more soldiers can be deployed......"

"Ah......" Zheng Guodong was stunned for a while, he didn't expect to develop the defense line into the air at all, after thinking for a long time, Fang said: "My subordinates understand, the wall has not only become taller, but also thickened, and it is possible to resist artillery, but these three layers of defense line ......"

"These things, leave them to the craftsmen in the city," Li Zicheng patted Zheng Guodong on the shoulder, "Guodong, this Dinglong Village, I will hand it over to you, the thousand households under you were originally soldiers, and after a little training, they will immediately come to Dinglong Mountain, and improve the stone wall of Dinglong Village as soon as possible!" ”

"Leave it to your subordinates,......" Zheng Guodong was overjoyed, and hurriedly said: "My subordinates, thank you for your trust!" ”

Li Zicheng returned to Shangzhou City, and on the one hand, he sent a message to Song Wen, asking the 7th Battalion to move eastward, occupy Zhen'an and Shanyang counties as soon as possible, and connect the original Hanzhong Mansion and Xing'an County with Shangzhou.

Then he summoned Lu Dazhi and left him with five hundred households of infantry and asked him to garrison Shangzhou City.

Li Zicheng took his own soldiers, plus the infantry of five hundred households of Lu Dazhi's department, and went south along the official road along the Danshui coast, breaking through Longju Village and Wuguan.

Longju Village is just a large town with a slightly larger population, there is no city wall, there is no Ming army stationed, the Mandate of Heaven Army just crossed, while publicizing the Mandate of Heaven to the people, a soldier of the general banner was temporarily recruited to garrison Longju Village.

Wuguan is the focus of Li Zicheng's attention.

Wuguan is built on a relatively flat plateau between the canyons, the north is based on the lofty Shaoxi Mountain, the south is on the verge of an isolated stream, the river is surrounded by east, west and south three sides, "Wuguan is closed in one palm in Qinzhong, Xiangyun Jianghuai Road is not passed", the circumference of the city is three miles, the city wall is built with soil, slightly square, the east and west each open a door, and the roll hole is built with bricks and stones.

There are four ridges in the east of the city five miles, especially the suspension bridge ridge, high and steep, go up the mountain together, do not allow to ride together, shield for the Wuguan, enter and exit the Wuguan, must pass through the suspension bridge ridge, the history calls it "the southeast gateway of Guanzhong", and has the reputation of "one hundred and two Qin Pass", which means that if the enemy army attacking has one million, the defenders only need 20,000.

During the Wanli period, Wuguan was repaired, but along the Danshui, the north and south of Wuguan were the territories of the imperial court, Wuguan gradually lost the status of the border pass, there were actually only two hundred households of the Ming army in the city, the Mandate of Heaven army suddenly appeared on the back, and the defenders were forced to land almost without blood.

Li Zicheng selected a hundred households of soldiers from the surrendered troops, and divided a hundred households from Lu Dazhi's infantry to jointly garrison Wuguan.