Zhao Chen and Yu Yunwen continued to ride forward, and they walked a few more villages and towns, and the sky gradually darkened.

"Your Majesty, there is a temple ahead, let's go to that temple to rest!" A lieutenant who had gone to scout the road in front walked over and said.

"Okay, just go there." Zhao Chen said.

Snow was falling, and the weather was extremely cold.

The snowflakes fell on people's bodies, and Zhao Chen, Yu Yunwen and others were all snow-white.

After walking for about half an hour, a temple appeared on the vast snowfield!

This is a typical Liao temple, and in the middle of the temple stands an octagonal pagoda of the Liao Kingdom.

"Your Majesty, this temple is empty, there is not a single monk, it seems that they were killed by the Jurchens, we didn't kill the monks." The leading lieutenant said.

"These buildings are monuments that need to be well preserved." Zhao Chen said.

When the people entered the temple, it was already dark.

There are rows of side houses in this temple, which used to be inhabited by monks, but now there are no monks, and they just go in.

Zhao Chen, Yu Yunwen and others came to the innermost room, the soldiers had already lit a fire here, and after a while, a few soldiers came, they were carrying prey in their hands, Zhao Chen, Yu Yunwen and these soldiers roasted these prey together, and suddenly a stream of fragrance emanated from the house.

"This winter, it's a lot of snow!" Zhao Chen said with a smile.

"Your Majesty, this is the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, which is colder than Guanshan and Hanzhong, so the snow is very heavy!" Yu Yunwen said.

"Anyway, I forgot that! If you go to the Liaodong area, the snow will naturally be heavier. Zhao Chen said.

There were soldiers with hot water nearby, and after a while, they brought hot tea, but the hot tea was placed in an iron pot and served in several large bowls.

"In the next few days, we still have to go around Yanyun! After more than a month of severe crackdown, the order of Yanyun is stable, but the people are frightened, and we need to appease it well. Zhao Chen said.

"Yes, it's to be appeased! Especially to appease the Khitan people, they are also the people of Yanyun, and they will not be able to build Yanyun in the future! Yu Yunwen said.

"Tomorrow we will send a decree to end the crackdown! Governing the world requires both grace and might, so let's think about ways to appease the people. Zhao Chen said with a smile.

The so-called "grace and might", if you use the words of the Americans in later generations, it is "carrots and sticks", before they beat the Khitans with a stick, so that the Khitans understand the height of the sky, and also let the other Han people of Yanyun see the iron-blooded methods of the imperial court, and now it is time to send the carrots to everyone, in order to appease the people! This is the usual method used by Americans in later generations, and it is also a good way to govern the world!

"Your Majesty, the first thing is to immediately carry out the measurement of land, the distribution of land, and so on! The sooner you do it, the better! In fact, most of the Khitan people are also poor peasants, and only a small part of them rebelled. Now they already know the strength of our Han people, and they don't dare to look down on the Han people, and they don't dare to despise the majesty of the imperial court! When the farmland and farm tools are distributed to them, they will naturally be grateful to Dade, and they will feel that under our rule, their lives are better than before, and they will naturally keep to themselves. Yu Yunwen said.

"Not bad." Zhao Chen nodded.

"The second is to reduce or reduce agricultural taxes! The entire Yanyun and Central Plains encountered wars, and the people's lives were difficult, so agricultural taxes naturally had to be reduced or reduced! Later, when the people are rich, then it will be time to collect taxes! Only when the people are rich can the country be strong, and if the people are not rich, tax collection will only increase the burden on the people, and the benefits to the country will be limited. Yu Yunwen said again.

"Also, exempt from conscription next year! I have an idea in my heart that from now on, the state will try to minimize forced labor, and if there is such a levy as possible, it will also be the construction of water conservancy, roads and other things that concern the public! If you build a government office, you must not use conscription, but spend money to hire people. Tell this to the Han and Khitan people of Yanyun as well. Zhao Chen thought for a while and said.

The so-called conscription is free compulsory labor, the ordinary people in ancient times had conscription, and they had to serve dozens of days of conscription every year, and some even reached 100 days.

"In this way, the people will naturally support the court even more!" Yu Yunwen nodded and said.

"In addition to agricultural taxes, commercial taxes should also be unified as soon as possible! We must remove countless tax cards from the sixteen states of Yanyun and the Central Plains, and from now on, only one tax will be charged for doing business, and no deductions will be charged at all levels! In this way, merchants from Jiangnan, Hanzhong, and Sichuan and Shu can be encouraged to come to Yanyun and the Central Plains, which is also conducive to the early restoration of prosperity in Yanyun and the Central Plains. Zhao Chen said.

"Yes!" Yu Yunwen nodded.

"There is another thing, the sixteen states of Yanyun are too far away from the south of the Yangtze River, and it takes a long time to take the land route, if it comes from the canal, because of the war, the canal is broken, and it will also delay time very much! We need to build a dock east of Yanjing by the sea, or simply build a new city to connect Yanyun and Jiangnan! In this way, it is not only beneficial for business, but also for the transmission of government decrees. Zhao Chen said.

"Good! Wechen wrote it down! Yu Yunwen said.

"I'm going to hand over this matter to Wu Jue's Yangtze River Sailor to do! In fact, Wu Jue has other tasks, let's deal with Yan Yun first, let Yan Yun recover his calm as soon as possible, and then talk about Wu Jue's other things. Zhao Chen said.

Yu Yunwen secretly guessed what the other things Zhao Chen said were, but he couldn't think of it after thinking about it for a long time.

"To appease the people, in addition to the above policies, we also need officials and the army to work together! Tell the officials and soldiers in the sixteen states of Yanyun and let them take the initiative to help the people! When the people are in trouble, they can't turn a blind eye, they must rush to help immediately! This is true not only for the Han people, but also for the Khitans! Moreover, officials and soldiers must actively come to the people to publicize the policies of our Great Song Dynasty, and tell the people about these policies just now, so that the people know! Zhao Chen said.

Yu Yunwen nodded.

"Also, although the strike hard is over, we still have to track down the rebellion! If there are still Khitans who want to rebel, it is still a dead end! Zhao Chen said.

The two of them discussed the issue of governing the sixteen states of Yanyun in this leaky temple.

When the meat was cooked, they ate it in large gulps, and they and the soldiers slept here that night.

Early the next morning, they continued on their way forward.

After walking for three days, they came to the vicinity of Zhuozhou.

In a small village outside Zhuozhou, a farmer's house was crushed by snow, and Zhao Chen ordered the soldiers around him to help them repair the house.

It wasn't until it was almost dark that the house was repaired, and the peasant family was grateful, but Zhao Chen and others left again and entered Zhuozhou City.

After arriving in Zhuozhou City, the next morning, Zhao Chen went to visit a large Khitan household!

This Khitan family has an excellent reputation in the Zhuozhou area!

When the Liao people were still in power, the Han people were oppressed, and this Khitan family protected ordinary Han people.

By the time of the Jurchen invasion, the Khitan family had also become poor, and their houses were occupied by the Jurchens, but they had a deep background and still helped ordinary Han or Khitan people in such a situation.

After the Jurchens retreated, they returned to their houses again, and they saw that many Han beggars had no place to live, and even gave up their houses.

More than a month ago, Zhao Chen purged the Khitans with iron and blood, but this family abided by the law and was not killed.

"Grass people, see Your Majesty!" When Zhao Chen came to the door of this household, more than a dozen Khitans were already outside to greet him, and they hurriedly knelt down with panicked faces.

"Let's all be flat." Zhao Chen said with a smile.

"Your Majesty, please come in!" The head of the family is a Khitan man in his forties, Dao.

Zhao Chen followed them into the house, although the house was large, there were not many furnishings, but it was very neatly tied.

"Your Majesty, I only have some bad tea here, I'm really slacking." Wait until everyone sits down, and the Khitan family is the main one.

"It's good to have something to drink. I heard that you have helped many Han people over the years, and I want to thank you. Zhao Chen said.

"The grass people don't dare to be! The grass people just can't see others suffering. "The master of the house.

"No soldiers have been harassing you all this time, have they?" Zhao Chen said.

"No, none of you soldiers came to our house." The head of the family hurriedly said, and after a while, the head of the family hesitated and said: "Your Majesty, although there are indeed some Khitans who want to rebel, you should kill them, but some of our clansmen have just made some small mistakes, and Your Majesty will kill them, is it a little inappropriate?" ”

After the words of the head of the family, the faces of the Khitan people next to them changed greatly, they never dreamed that the head of the family would say such a thing, if this angered Zhao Chen, they were afraid that all the family members would be killed.

"A lot of the previous practices were really inappropriate! I have decreed that this should never be done again! From now on, in the sixteen states of Yanyun, whether it is a Han or a Khitan, I will treat everyone equally! Whether it is the Han or the Khitan, they are all the people of the Great Song Dynasty, and they are all my people, and I will not treat them differently! If I didn't do well before, I apologize here. Zhao Chen said sincerely.

Hearing that Zhao Chen actually said the words of "apology", the Khitan family master showed an unbelievable expression on his face! Since ancient times, few emperors have admitted that they have done wrong, and I have never heard of any emperor who apologized to the people because of a certain people's questioning, which is really commendable! He naturally didn't know that Zhao Chen didn't really want to apologize, and Zhao Chen didn't feel that he had done something wrong, it was a necessary means to wash Yanyun in blood before, but now it is just to appease this Khitan family and make the Khitan people believe in the policy change!

When Zhao Chen said this, the Khitan family was excited, and there was no need to say more.

Zhao Chen stayed here for more than an hour before leaving.

From November 20 to December 15, in 25 days, Zhao Chen, Yu Yunwen and others visited more than 10 prefectures and counties, they went deep into the people, appeased the people, and told the people of Yanyun, including the Han and Khitans, the policy!

Originally, after the crackdown, the Khitans panicked, but Zhao Chen visited many Khitan people's homes and told them that as long as they obeyed the law, the court would never embarrass them.

By the time it was December, all parts of the country were measuring the land and distributing the land, and many poor Khitan people were allocated land, and for a time the people applauded, including the Khitan people who were allocated land. When all localities know that next year's agricultural tax will be almost exempted, and next year's forced labor will also be exempted, they will be even more excited and excited!

Moreover, Wang Shu's propaganda office has also entered various places!

The soldiers stationed in the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun also helped the Han and Khitan people to do some chores, and everyone applauded.

In a short period of time, the sixteen states of Yanyun have escaped from the previous atmosphere of terror, and many farmers are planning what to plant next year after getting the land, and they are in a good mood.