Throughout the afternoon, under the organization of Wei Zhongquan, Sima Hong, and a group of loyal officials who protected the Lord, the entire Dacang Imperial City was in a busy state.

Due to the early evacuation of the people, coupled with the strategy of attracting troops, so after the Zheng army entered the imperial city this time, it did not cause much damage, and after the official government posted the notice, all the people were relieved, beating gongs and drums and starting the whole city to celebrate.

Everywhere you look, pigs and sheep are slaughtered, wine shops and restaurants are swaggering, the sound of cheers overflows the streets, the social dances that originally only appeared during the grand festival celebrations also poured into the streets, and children also ran into the streets in groups to sing and dance, and the whole imperial city was immersed in a thick excitement and carnival.

The soldiers of Cangguo were also enthusiastic, except for the Zheng army who surrendered, the rest of the people were all engaged in carrying grain and grass and collecting weapons.

Everyone's enthusiasm is very full, for ordinary people and soldiers, today is simply a narrow escape, not only picked up a life, but also witnessed how His Majesty the Emperor, who was helped by the gods, laid out step by step, defeated the invading enemy army at a small price, and captured several times the enemy of his own.

This is simply a myth, several times more wonderful than those legendary stories!

It was also at this time that Yang Mu, the fake emperor, had a great reputation, and his prestige in the army and the court was almost comparable to that of the first emperor, and on the way back to the court, the civil and military officials were respectful to him, kneeling and kowtowing, and his eyes were full of worship and piety.

However, compared to the bustle outside, it can be said that the court at this time is the most bleak.

Nearly 4,000 enemy troops died on the side of the west palace wall, and even if all the palace guards and palace maids and eunuchs acted together, it took a whole afternoon to clean up, and when the bright moon was high, everyone ended the fatigue of the day and returned to their residences to rest.

Yang Mu was naturally surrounded by a group of eunuchs and palace maids, surrounded by stars and moons, and returned to Wanshou Palace.

After lying on the dragon collapse for a while, he asked Ji Ling'er to bring a large pile of books.

Among them, the most are history books, as well as some decrees and proclamations.

He flipped through it roughly, and asked Ji Ling'er when he had any doubts, about midnight, when he saw Ji Ling'er and the palace maids and eunuchs who were serving, they were yawning, but they didn't dare to squeak, he couldn't help it, so he closed the book and let everyone rest.

As a progressive young man in the 21st century, Yang Mu has always had the concept of equality in his thoughts, and he can't bear to let dozens of people suffer for his own selfishness.

It was at this time that he found that the rules in this palace were very different from those in the TV series, after those palace maids and eunuchs retired, they did not go elsewhere to rest, but lived in a small room next to the Wanshou Palace, Ji Linger and Shen An lived closer to each other, just inside the Wanshou Palace, not far from him, and they could be heard when they shouted, which was very convenient to serve.

This is the life of an emperor?

Yang Mu lay on the dragon collapse tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

He was reviewing the historical books and decrees he had just read, and he found that although the social form and customs of this world could be compared with those of the ancient Song and Ming dynasties in ancient China, the political systems of the various vassal states were actually very backward, basically still staying in the stage of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and the slightly stronger ones were only similar to the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.

Obviously, there is no imperial examination system among the various vassal states, the selection of officials is basically carried out in the family, and the literacy rate is even more frighteningly low, nearly 600,000 people in the entire Cangguo, less than 3,000 people can read and write, and they are basically the children of the big clan.

And civilians, from the moment they were born, have already decided the trajectory of their lives, and they are destined to only be exploited and oppressed by the family, and the only way to change their fate is to enlist in the army, and it is great to be able to mix in the position of a centurion.

What's even more incredible is that the taxes and levies of the various vassal states can be said to be frighteningly heavy!

Taking Cangguo as an example, the types of exacting taxes and miscellaneous taxes are very complicated, as many as dozens of kinds, not only human taxes, land taxes, property taxes, and forced labor, etc., but also the tax rates are very high, to the point of three out of ten taxes.

For example, if there are five people in an ordinary family, and the total output of labor in a year is ten taels of silver, then at least three taels of silver will be used to pay taxes.

This is just an ordinary situation, if the government recruits people's husbands, they have to work for free, and at the end of the year, the family's food and clothing are unsustainable, and it is common for people to starve to death.

And what about the ruling class? What Yang Mu knows, every nobleman has a big granary in his house, has a large amount of land and slaves, is arrogant and extravagant, and is drunk with money, so he said that in the treasury of Cangguo, hundreds of thousands of taels of silver are still sealed.

This is not just a problem of exploiting ordinary people, but a sick ecological system.

Taxation is the main source of a country's fiscal revenue, such cruel exploitation, will inevitably cause the people to suffer unspeakably, the ruling class is full of complaints, can not survive can not grow the population, so there is no tax, so the ruling class then increase the proportion of taxes, this forms a dead circle, in the long run, once a large-scale natural and man-made disaster, the country will inevitably collapse.

For example, Yang Mu's cheap father, who rebelled thirty years ago and overthrew the rule of the previous dynasty to establish Cangguo, most of the reasons for his success are also because of this.

However, as the so-called nature of the country is easy to change, after the establishment of the Cangguo, there has not been much change for the common people, just reducing the complicated taxes by a few kinds, which has already made the ordinary people grateful to Dade and shouted the Holy Son of Heaven.

I have to say that the people at the bottom are the kindest and the most easily satisfied, and among the various vassal states, this sick society can be maintained for hundreds of years, from Yang Mu's point of view, it is really a miracle.

Yang Mu tossed and turned on the dragon collapse, feeling very uncomfortable.

Especially as a person who is familiar with the history of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in ancient China, he is well aware of one fact.

The so-called Dali Dynasty has been declining, and between the various vassal states, it is about to usher in a bloody world.

Now in this situation, there is a Zheng State in the north of Cangguo, whose national strength is several times that of Cangguo, and this time he defeated Zheng Kang by stratagem, so what about the future? Once Zheng Guoju pours all the strength of the whole country to attack, what resistance will Cangguo take?

Internal and external troubles are like a sword of Damocles, hanging above the head, making people restless.

Of course, Yang Mu also knows that there is no urgency to change the law and try to become strong, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, but almost all those who implement the law change have a good end, in the case of no absolute control over the country, even if he is the emperor, it is easy to cause political turmoil, so that the enemy country and domestic careerists have an opportunity.

What to do? While Yang Mu was anxious, he also had a sense of confidence in his heart.

Because in his head, there's a library!

He understood very well what a modern library meant to an extremely backward feudal agrarian society, which was the crystallization of thousands of years of human civilization on the earth, bringing together technology and culture, and was a real treasure trove of words.

There was once an assumption that if one day, human civilization was destroyed by war or natural disaster, destroying cities, factories and roads, but our memories of the human past remained, then it would soon be possible to rebuild our civilization from the ruins, however, if this disaster destroyed the library, then human civilization would have returned to square one and would have to start from scratch.

Once such a treasure house of knowledge shines, what kind of changes will it bring to this extremely backward agricultural civilization?

It's a pity that before he could think about it carefully, he couldn't hold back the heavy sleepiness and completely fell asleep.

When it was just dawn, Ji Ling'er knelt beside the bed and woke him up, saying that the time had come to go to court.

Going to court?

Yang Mu was sleepy-eyed, and then remembered that Cangguo was a three-day meeting, and the fifth watch was about to go to court, looking at the faint appearance of the morning light, the officials should have been waiting.

"Yo, the first time you go to court, what kind of excitement should it be?" The corners of Yang Mu's mouth curled, and he was looking forward to it.