In November of the sixteenth year of Zheng, at this time, in order to ensure that the army could directly attack the four Sichuan provinces in the next year, a large number of grain, grass materials and ordnance could not help but be transported to Yiling City on the road of Xiazhou along the broad Yangtze River under the edict of Zhang Shihua, the king of Chu.

However, in order to avoid startling the snake, the Chu army did not mobilize troops and horses for a while, so even the middle-level and grass-roots generals in the Chu army did not know that there would be another big war next year.

Therefore, at this time, Jiangling City, the royal capital in the territory of Great Chu, still seemed calm and comfortable, and there was no tension with soldiers and horses.

And this season is also the deep winter season, there has been no war for more than a year, and some citizens of Gangneung City, when there is no topic to talk about, can't help but be a little bored.

Therefore, in the past few days, the teahouse where you can listen to books and watch dramas can't help but make a profit.

At this time, the people who have some savings in their hands are willing to go to see the new anti-Tartar dramas that have been released these days or listen to the heroic stories of loyalty and patriotism such as Yue Fei's biography.

And the idle lazy people, who do not have much savings in their hands and are unwilling to do it at this time, can only bask in the sun on the streets, or mingle in the market, and listen to the strange stories brought by the merchants who have traveled from south to north.

"Hey, you know what. At the beginning of last month, a burning star fell from Daimyo Road. A merchant who traveled from south to north, after doing a single business, he was temporarily idle, and he couldn't help but show off his knowledge to the people around him:

"It is said that when the star hit the ground, the sound was as loud as thunder, and the heavenly fire burned for an hour before it was extinguished!"

The somewhat fat merchant danced and spoke, and what he said couldn't help but cause a lot of exclamations from the people around him.

"I heard from the older generation that the stars falling from the sky often indicate that something big is going to change the world." An old man who was auditing, in order to attract attention at this time, couldn't help but want to show his extensive knowledge at this time.

However, his words aroused a lot of approval at this time.

"The second master is right. Think about it, what kind of place is that on the Daimyo Road, which is the Zhongshu Province of the Yuanmeng Tartars. Now that even that place has begun to fall stars, I don't think this group of Yuanmeng Tartars will have a few days to live. ”

A man said this, and he couldn't help but arouse a lot of approval again.

But now under the rule of Da Chu, the lives of the people are really much better than those of the Yuan Court.

However, it is ironic that the taxes that Great Chu now levied on the people under his rule were actually levied according to the taxes set by the Yuan court.

That is to say, in order to maintain military spending, the current Da Chu, grain tax, commercial tax, branch tax (silk goods tax), annual tax (mineral tax), poll tax, salt tax, tea tax, chariot and horse tax, rich tax and other taxes are not much less than the regular tax in the Yuan and Mongolian periods (of course, the unbelievable harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes of the kitchen knife tax have long been abolished).

It's just that Dachu reformed the grain that burdened the people the heaviest, from the original tax per person to the tax according to the number of acres. However, a high tax of 25 per cent of the total output is still levied.

The biggest difference between today's Great Chu and the Yuan Court is that in terms of grain tax, silk tax, mining tax, chariot and horse tax and other types of taxes, it is not like the Yuan Court to let the people convert it into some bullshit treasure money to collect, but directly collect it in kind.

Hehe, doesn't this kind of taxation method sound very backward, and there is a feeling that it is not as advanced as the Yuan Court.

But what Zhang Shihua wants to say is that in a country like ancient China, which lacked precious metals such as gold and silver, this way of taxation was the most appropriate.

You must know that in this era, the peasants facing the loess with their backs to the sky, except for the autumn harvest and summer harvest, they did not have any other sources of income for gold, silver and treasure money.

As a result, when taxes such as summer tax and poll tax were collected, the people could only sell the grain they had earned through a year's hard work. In this way, the people will be exploited by those grain merchants before paying their taxes.

In addition, the inflation brought about by the instability of the treasure money also makes the people at the bottom miserable.

For example, the legal tender of the Yuan Dynasty was treasure banknotes.

Therefore, if the peasant households living in the Yuan Dynasty wanted to buy things in the bazaar, they could only use their crops to exchange their crops for treasure money from the government or wealthy merchants and landlords.

And the fuck thing is, the Yuan Dynasty still has a law that stipulates that each treasure banknote is a thousand copper coins.

This means that if farmers exchange their crops for treasure money, the government and wealthy landlords will exchange them with you at this price.

But shamelessly, because of the indiscriminate issuance of treasure money, the peasants and ordinary people could exchange treasure money with the government and wealthy landlords with crops or copper coins worth as much as 1,000 wen. But if it is the other way around, you take the treasure money and go to the government to exchange it for copper coins, but the government will not do it.

As a result, the treasure money will naturally depreciate sharply.

So much so that in the year of the Red Turban Uprising, because of the change in the banknote law, you couldn't even buy a stone of rice in the market with two new bills.

You must know that in the Yuan Dynasty, one ingot of treasure banknotes was fifty yuan, and two ingots of treasure money was one hundred yuan.

It's a hundred yuan, but you can't exchange it for a hundred catties of rice. From this point of view alone, you can also know what the hell the depreciation of the treasure money has become.

So this is why after the Red Turban Uprising, the people of Jiangsu, Zhejiang Province, a rich place that did not suffer from disasters, were also so keen to rebel.

It is really because under the cruel exploitation of treasure money, there is no room for small farmers to survive under the rule of the Yuan court.

Therefore, when Zhang Shihua was governing the place, he would sacrifice the old method of 100 years ago and collect the goods from the people under his rule.

That's right, such an approach is indeed backward and inefficient. But until the central government does not have sufficient gold and silver reserves to establish a banknote or gold and silver standard and stabilize prices, this method of collecting taxes is the best for the small people.

Because in this way, they do not need to be subjected to secondary exploitation, and basic food and clothing are guaranteed.

And this is the fundamental reason why the people at the bottom will support the Great Chu regime.

It's just that under the rule of Great Chu, as long as they work, they can survive.

However, at this time, when several people on this street were talking about the falling star, the sound of horse's hooves galloping like thunder on South Street couldn't help but sound.

"Second master, get out of the way, don't be bumped into." Seeing a black-clothed knight riding a horse, a man who had just spoken out couldn't help but stretch out his hand and pull the second master to the side of the road.

"Here, look at the sign behind the knight, this is the person who came to report the victory!" The second master, who was dodging on the side of the road, watched the knight ride away, but he couldn't help but look at the people on the left and right like this.

When they heard his words, they suddenly realized that they had different expressions.

"If you win at this time, it will be the end of the war on the Liangjiang Road in the south." The chubby merchant was the first to react, and couldn't help but say to himself.

Later, the merchant couldn't help but find out that the truth was exactly as he expected. General Zhao Jianzhao, who led an army of 30,000 to the south, finally conquered Linguicheng on Jingjiang Road, the administrative office of Guangxi and Liangjiang Province twenty days ago. And finally today, Zhang Shihua sent the long-awaited good news.

When the good news comes, the first thing to do is naturally the reward.

Therefore, by the next day, the Great Chu Center, which had already made sufficient preparations for this, couldn't help but formulate a reasonable reward and punishment plan.

From high-level generals such as Zhao Jian, Gao Kaida, and Zhao Yufu, to ordinary soldiers who only have the credit of beheading, there will be reasonable rewards.

And having said that, I have to mention the reward system that has also changed in Dachu after the military reform.

Nowadays, as the enemies faced by the Chu army become more and more powerful and tricky, the territory under the rule of the Chu army is also expanding day by day, and the land resources controlled by the Great Chu government are also increasing day by day. Then the reward for beheading an enemy soldier is naturally getting higher and higher.

In the past, the reward of one person for killing an enemy or one acre of land has long been a distant thing in the past.

At this time, the Chu army beheaded an enemy soldier, but it could be rewarded with a full ten acres of land.

Yes, the reward multiplied tenfold at once (Note 1).

However, this is not an exaggeration, in fact, after the Chu army occupied Huguang, there were too many ownerless fields in the hands of the government.

So much so that Zhang Shihua last time after the reform of the military system, in order to let these ownerless lands be used. It was even regarded as a benefit, and the soldiers were rewarded with fifteen acres of land each.

So this time, the 30,000 soldiers who followed Zhao Jian south will undoubtedly be the first batch of beneficiaries of the new reward system.

And with the existence of such role models, it can undoubtedly play a certain role in motivating.

As for high-level generals like Zhao Jian. There is no doubt that in the future, the 30,000 soldiers and horses who went south will also undergo military reform after the war. After the restructuring, Zhao Jian, who has made great contributions, will also be officially appointed as the generalissimo of the Marshal Mansion of Liangjiang Province in Guangxi.

Gao Kaida and Zhao Yufu will also become the new military commanders of Da Chu, each in charge of an army.

As for the names of the two armies they are in charge of, Zhang Shihua has already thought about them. Of the two armies under the command of Gao Kaida and Zhao Yufu, one corps will conquer the Southern Army, and the other will be called the Zhennan Army. The name can be described as easy to understand and concise.

However, compared with the appointment of these military positions, who will serve as a civil official like Tongzhi of the Propaganda Department of Liangjiang Province made Zhang Shihua a little uncertain for a while.

"My lord, this Xuanzhi is in charge of government affairs. If you want to do a good job in this position, you must not have bad relations with the local natives, and you must also be familiar with the local local customs. In this way, it is better to directly choose a native who has prestige in the local area and has a heart for my great Chu to take up this official position. ”

Zhang Shihua was a little undecided, and Lu Sicheng couldn't help but give such a suggestion at this time.

But Zhang Shihua is not very satisfied with this.

However, under the rule of Da Chu, the Propaganda Department Tongzhi, who is in charge of a government affairs, has great power. If such an official position is appointed to the local natives, it is very likely that a situation will be formed. That's not what Zhang Shihua wants to see.

So after Lu Sicheng finished speaking, Zhang Shihua couldn't help waving his hand and said: "This matter is for King Rong to think about." ”

"Yes!" In this regard, Lu Sicheng naturally won't say anything more. After all, he proposed to let the local natives serve as the same knowledge, but he also considered that the local natives could stabilize the place more quickly by holding this official position.

Now, since his own king has concerns about this, Lu Sicheng naturally will not do something that makes Zhang Shihua easy to misunderstand.

However, on the second day, who was appointed as the governor of Liangjiang Province, Zhang Shihua also selected a suitable candidate.

And this candidate is Nie Bing, who will continue to be the governor of Jingmen Prefecture after surrendering to Zhang Shihua.

Nie Bing is a person, although his ability is not very outstanding. But this person is honest and has a bottom line, and can do things with patience.

He will serve as the co-knowledge of Liangjiang Province, although he can't let the natives on the other side of Liangjiang Province suddenly join Wang Hua and shout King Shengming of Chu. But at least it can stabilize the situation in Liangjiangdao and give Dachu a time to imperceptibly affect Liangjiangdao.

Of course, Zhang Shihua has also regressed in this regard.

After all, according to the good news presented by Zhao Jian, there are also many local people who are interested in them. Therefore, these natives were also appointed by Zhang Shihua to become local magistrates such as the local prefect, and they were also rewarded with a knight.

Therefore, in this way, five days later, the edict of appointment and reward of the center of Great Chu, as well as a large number of reward materials, could not help but go south to Wuling along the Yangtze River. Then take the Yuanjiang River, a tributary of the Yangtze River, and go in the direction of Liangjiang Road.

And then it didn't take long for it to be the end of the year again.

So at this time, in addition to the border armies in various places, the officials in other places under the rule of the Chu army couldn't help but get a rare leisure time.

Among them, Zhang Shihua, as the king of Chu, can also be regarded as a member of leisure.

No, on the fifteenth day of the lunar month, Zhang Shihua couldn't help but invite a singing team into the palace.

Together with the family members in the house, I watched the unique Yuanqu art of this dynasty.

And when it comes to Yuanqu, you may not know who the four Yuanqu people are. But I think I have heard of Guan Hanqing, Ma Zhiyuan and Mr. Guan Hanqing's masterpiece "Dou E's Injustice".

Recently, Zhang Shihua can now hear this play in the palace, which is the well-known "Dou E's Injustice" in later generations.

(To be continued.......................................... ）