Not long after Yan Xing and Yan Zhi and his party arrived in Chencang, Sima Biqiu Xing, who had been staying in Chang'an, also arrived.

They brought good news that Wang Zhong had led his army to Chang'an and surrendered.

Last year, after Yan Xing's army defeated Han Sui's army, Wang Zhong of Wuguan also went to war with Liang Xing, who was aggressive and aggressive between Shang Luo, who moved his army.

For Wang Zhong, a defeated general, Liang Xing was sure in his heart that he would be able to capture him, so as soon as the war began, he fell for Wang Zhong's plan to lure the enemy, and the proud and light Liang Xingjun was gradually introduced into the ambush point they had set up for the enemy in advance by Wang Zhongjun, who was pretending to be defeated.

So, after a bloody battle full of killings, Wang Zhong, who was waiting for work, killed Liang Xing, who fell into the trap, and defeated Liang Xing's army. Subsequently, Wang Zhongjun took advantage of the victory to pursue and reoccupy the city between Shangluo.

However, Wang Zhong's life after his victory was not easy, and with Lantian stationed in Hedong, the pressure he faced was increasing.

The harsh winter is coming, and the soldiers and horses of Hedong, who have been tired of fighting for a long time, did not send troops to Shangluo, but Wang Zhong knew that it was a matter of time, and the Hedong army that occupied Guanzhong in the coming year would definitely be between Shangluo and Shangluo.

Leading the soldiers and horses to resist the Hedong army is undoubtedly a mantis arm as a car, so the only thing left for him is to surrender.

But who to surrender is also a matter of life.

Entering Lantian, he was able to surrender Yan Xing, who had recently recovered Guanzhong and was in the limelight.

Out of Wuguan, you can surrender Liu Biao in Jingxiang, or you can surrender Cao Cao, who is fighting with Liu Biao in the north of Nanyang County.

Because he had attacked Lou Gui, a general sent by Jingzhou, he was the first to surrender Liu Biao to be ruled out by Wang Zhong, and he hesitated whether to surrender Yan Xing in the initial pass or Cao Cao who fought for Nanyang.

Xu Du Imperial Court and Sanfu Homeland, he must make a choice between the two.

Faced with these two unpredictable choices, Wang Zhong simply sent envoys to both Yan Xing and Cao Cao, and he himself stationed in Shangluo, holding his troops still, thinking that once the situation was not good, he could run to Wuguan or Lantian anytime and anywhere.

In the end, Wang Zhong, who had survived a winter, learned that Lou Gui had switched to the Xudu court after the defeat and received the news of Cao Cao's reuse, so he made up his mind to lead his troops and horses to surrender to Yan Xing, and took the city and Wuguan between Shangluo and Luo as the step of advancement, and he personally ran to Chang'an City to show his loyalty to Yan Xing.

The matter was important, so Sima Biqiu Xing of the Hussar General's Mansion personally rushed to Chencang, reported the news to Yan Xing, and waited for his decision.

Inside the tent.

After listening to Biqiu Xing's report, Yan Xing thought of all kinds of cannibalistic rumors about this Wang Zhong, and asked with interest:

"I heard that this Fufeng Wang Zhong is a soldier who is good at eating human flesh, and he must eat with human flesh every day, and before the battle, he needs to eat flesh and blood, and then he can put on armor and get on the horse and kill the enemy. Since he personally rushed to Chang'an City to surrender, what kind of person is he? ”

Biqiu Xing didn't expect that the first thing Yan Xing asked would be this, he was stunned for a moment, and then he reacted and said:

Wang Zhong has a strong body and strength, his face is slightly red, his mouth is wide and red-nosed, and his face is vicious. As for the rumors of cannibalism, Wang Zhong defended himself that this was nonsense, but it was just a rumor fabricated by the fugitive people in order to deter people's hearts. ”

After Yan Xing listened, he nodded, and then turned his head to look at Yan Zhi with a stern face on the side.

"What does the long history think?"

For a military man like Wang Zhong, who has a reputation for "cannibalism", Yan Zhi naturally dislikes it in his heart, but it involves the city passes of Shangluo and Wuguan, which involves a lot of things, and it is a matter of using troops to fight, so he is not good at making a statement, and immediately said:

"Wang Zhong's matter, there is no other way to talk about it, and the general can decide it himself!"

"Okay, I heard that Chen Ping and Fifth Lun were both insulted and laughed, but Emperor Gaozu and Emperor Guangwu were able to show up and use them. Although Lone did not dare to compare himself with the second emperor, Wang Zhong was brave and sharp, and he was able to defend the city, and he had the merit of dedicating the city, and Lone chased the virtue of the second emperor to love talents, and only acted as a lieutenant colonel, so as to show his merits! ”

Listening to Yan Xing's words, Yan Zhu's eyelids moved slightly, and his body that was sitting precariously moved unnaturally, while Biqiu Xing observed his words and sensed that the atmosphere was delicate, and he hurriedly agreed, and then retreated to his seat.

Yan Xing looked at Biqiu Xing, who had cautiously returned to his seat, smiled slightly, looked around at the history of the Bafu Peng who accompanied him in the tent, and said:

"Now that Wang Zhong has also surrendered, then these three auxiliary lands can be regarded as generally calm. In view of the dilapidated actual situation in Guanzhong, in addition to vigorously promoting the tuntian, the general's palace should also reform the taxation, abolishing the previous tax calculations, oral taxes, and other taxes, and replacing them with millet, wheat, cotton, silk and other physical goods that pay a fixed amount according to the acres of land and household registration. Let's talk about it today. ”

Hearing Yan Xing's words, Peng Shi in the tent looked left and right, and discussed the matter of "rent modulation".

Today's world is in turmoil, currency is blocked, business travel is cut off, and transactions between people have completely returned to the state of barter, especially in Guanzhong. Currency in other places is not connected, more because of the endless war, and the means of production are not enough to meet the needs of the people, let alone exchange them for five baht coins.

In addition to the above reasons, there is also a fatal reason in Guanzhong, that is, Dong Zhuo minted a large amount of small money during his administration, which seemed to fill the empty treasury in a short period of time, but the huge quantity and poor quality soon showed huge consequences:

Bad money drove out good money, the five-baht coin continued to depreciate, and the prices of daily necessities such as corn, wheat, salt, hemp, and silk silk soared.

In this case, if Yan Xing, who was in the initial customs, collected taxes in the form of taxation such as calculating taxes, oral taxes, and slashing money, then what he received in his hands would be a large pile of scrap copper and rotten iron, and the tax system must be reformed as soon as possible.

And rent modulation, in this case, came into being.

Replacing the previous taxes with rent modulation can enable the tyrant to obtain urgently needed necessities such as corn and silk as soon as possible, and also avoid the officials and powerful under his rule from using the pretext of calculating money, repairing the palace, and collecting money and other taxes to set up clever projects and arbitrarily apportioning them to ordinary Qianshou Li Shu.

This will also be of certain benefit to the government's efforts to encourage the people to cultivate and weave and crack down on the illegal acts of privately minting currency.

After the discussion of the history of the account, they all expressed their support for the implementation of rent regulation by the hegemon, and Yan Zhu, You Chu, Zhang Ji, Su Ze and others also mentioned that the amount of rent adjustment after the reform should not be too high, and it should be the same as the tax system in the early Han Dynasty, which can achieve the purpose of "light taxation" and "people-oriented".

Yan Xing listened to the opinions of the Bafu Pengshi while also considering the gains and losses in his heart.

In order to encourage cultivation and weaving, it is natural to "thin endowment", but the goal of "light punishment" is only afraid that it will be difficult to achieve before the troubled times are calmed down.

The reopening of irrigation and water conservancy in Guanzhong, as well as the conquest and use of troops in Yongliang, Bashu, and Kandong in the future, will inevitably require a large number of civilian service in Guanzhong.

The tun households under the tuntian system provide a large amount of food, the households under the rent regulation provide manpower and other materials, and the soldiers under the scholar system are responsible for the conquest, plus the supplement of the military tun system, this is Yan Xing's vision for the future to pacify the troubled times, and these four types of people under the rule of "soldiers and people" will jointly lay the foundation of Yan Xing's hegemony.

After the preliminary discussion of the rent modulation reform, the Peng Shi in the account also retreated, but the bookkeeper Zuo Pei Juan remained in the account, he looked at the documents recorded before in his hand, and reminded Yan Xing in time and said:

"General, it's still early, do you want to meet another talent from Fufeng?"

"Who?"

Yan Xing, who had just finished the discussion, was busy sorting out the thoughts in his mind, and he hadn't thought of anything from Pei Xuan's words.

In these days after the pacification of Guanzhong, there were precedents of Zhang Ji, Su Ze, You Chu and others, and many talented people of Sanfu rushed to pay homage to themselves, whether it was a big name family, a local tycoon or a child from a poor family, they regarded this as a shortcut to the eunuchs, and they asked for help and flocked to it.

If it is an ordinary person who asks for it, then it will be handed over to the Peng Shi and the assistant officials of Xi Cao of the General's Mansion to receive it.

When Pei Juan saw Yan Xing's appearance, he knew that the hussar general had forgotten this person who had made him write down the interview, so he hurriedly reminded him:

"This gentleman who helps the wind is called Ma Jun, the word Deheng, does the general have an impression?"

"Oh!"

Hearing Pei Juan mention Ma Jun's name, Yan Xing, who was taking care of many military and political affairs, finally stopped what he was doing, looked up at Pei Juan and said:

"Is he in Chencang, tell me about the situation."

Pei Juan nodded, looked down at the paperwork, and said:

"Ma Jun, a Fufeng person, is a scholar who returned from a study tour in the Kanto region. Although his speech is slurred, he has a strange skill, and this time he paid a visit to the general, and he came to offer a weaving machine and a catapult. ”

In order to be able to be received by Yan Xing, the children of all parties racked their hearts and painstakingly offered advice and offerings, including Meng Da and Fa Zheng in the front, and Ma Jun, a person known as "the world's famous skill".

Yan Xing couldn't help but show a wry smile, he thought about it for a while, and then asked:

"Ma Jun, Fufeng people, does it have anything to do with the Ma clan in Maoling?"

Pei Juan knew that the Maoling Ma clan that Yan Xing said was a branch of Ma Yuan, and like the Deng family, the Geng family, the Liang family, the Dou family and the Yin family, they were all famous families in this dynasty and retired with the country.

He shook his head and replied:

"The text clearly states the background of the poor family, and there is no other explanation, I am afraid that it has little to do with it, even if it can be touched, it is mostly a side branch and a distant family with estranged blood."

Yan Xing nodded, not all Fufeng surnamed Ma can be like Ma Teng, Ma Chao and his son to climb close to the Maoling Ma family, he immediately waved his hand and said:

"Then the lonely will see it, and bring the things he wants to offer into the tent!"