The time soon came to September, the harvest season, Gao Shun had nothing to do, so he brought Xi Zhicai and Guo Jia to negotiate whether to continue to pay taxes to the imperial court in the second half of this year.

At that time, he compromised with Dong Zhuo and exchanged political interests, and Jizhou and Qingzhou still paid taxes to the imperial court.

At this time, the war in the Central Plains gradually subsided, and Gao Shun had no intention of continuing to supply blood to Dong Zhuo.

Guo Jia suggested stopping directly, anyway, now that the soldiers are strong and strong, they are not afraid of Dong Zhuo at all.

Xi Zhicai did not recommend this, he hoped to gradually reduce the number of taxes, Qingzhou, first remove the taxes of several counties in Yanzhou and Langya County, Jinan County, Le'an County, Beihai State and Qi State, only Donglai County and Pingyuan County remained, even if these two counties, the taxes had to be cut in half, and only half of them were paid; As for Jizhou, first remove the Hanoi County and Dong County in charge, and then remove the vassal states, leaving only Wei County, Julu County and Bohai County, which also adopted the Qingzhou method and paid only half of the tax; In this way, the amount of taxes that need to be paid will be greatly reduced, and the reputation of the lord will not be affected.

Originally, Qingzhou had two counties and four countries; Jizhou has three counties and six countries; The vassal states did not pay taxes to the imperial court, but only paid symbolic tribute to the imperial court and the emperor every year; Now the kings in the jurisdiction of Gaoshun, enjoy a greatly reduced amount of money, but the degree of freedom has increased, there is also security, compared to the kings in the troubled areas, food and clothing, they are already very satisfied, therefore, they and Gaoshun are in a relatively stable state, the kings did not dare to put forward negative opinions, nominally they are still the kingdom, but the implementation of the county policy.

Now is the era of panic, and natural and man-made disasters are continuous, it is very easy to find a reason for tax cuts, Gao Shun adopted Xi Zhicai's suggestion, besides, it is not possible to stop the taxes of the imperial court all at once, and it is not bad to adopt a gradual approach.

So Gao Shun asked Xi Zhicai to recruit and judge later, and carefully calculated the strategy of sending to Luoyang.

Xi Zhicai was happy that Gao Shun accepted his suggestion so easily, and felt that such a lord was the lord that their strategists liked, and then he suggested: "Lord, everything in the jurisdiction is now carried out according to the original plan, and preparations are being made for the future south to the Central Plains, but the Montenegrin Army still exists, in order to avoid future troubles, we must clean it up as soon as possible." ”

After the blow of Liu Yu and Gongsun Zhan, most of the people of the Montenegrin army surrendered to the government and were properly settled, only more than ten shares remained, and the number of soldiers was small, only the backbone strength, elite soldiers and their families were retained, the old and weak women and children have all surrendered to the government, and the remaining people are cultivating land in the mountains, supporting themselves, and the shortage of food, salt, cloth, etc., is exchanged for the money and jewelry they looted before from the Qin Pass, and they dare not go out of the mountain to loot at all, so Gao Shun did not encircle and suppress them after arriving in Jizhou, and the two sides were safe; As for the Qin Pass, which was entrenched in Zhongshan and Changshan, he did not plunder them everywhere, and Gao Shun would not exterminate them.

The purpose of Xi Zhicai is very clear, that is, to eliminate internal disasters and ensure the stability of the rear before going south to the Central Plains.

Gao Shun originally wanted to use Qin Guan to carry out secret missions, but now it seems that it is of little significance, and it is time to co-opt them. So he asked rhetorically: "What is the situation of the Montenegrin Army now?" ”

Guo Jia is now in charge of part of the intelligence affairs, so he reported: "My lord, the main force of the Montenegrin army is Qinguan, which occupies many county towns in Zhongshan and Changshan, manages many people, and relies on taxes to support many generals, forming a force of its own, with a very strong strength, with as many as 40,000 soldiers; The Montenegrin army in the western part of Zhao State was dominated by Zuo Zhangba, the western part of Wei County was dominated by Yu Poison, and the northern part of Hanoi County was dominated by Yang Feng. However, the Montenegrin army of the three southern counties is hidden in the deep mountains, and the internal ravines in the mountains are vertical and horizontal, interconnected, and the roads are rugged, and it is very difficult to clear them, so Jia believes that Zhao'an is the best policy. ”

Xi Zhicai agrees with Guo Jia's point of view, if he recruits An, those veterans who have experienced the test of war are the wealth he values, and he can choose a large number of soldiers to join the army, bypassing Gao Shun's ban on not expanding the army within two years, and can increase tens of thousands of soldiers, strengthen the military strength of Jizhou, and prepare for the southward trip to the Central Plains.

So Xi Zhicai supported: "My lord, what Feng Xiao said is good, Qin Guan can be civil and martial, the management of the territory under his jurisdiction is well organized, the people are rich, the soldiers are strong, and he is a rare talent; Zuo Zhangba, Yu Poison and others have been dealing with Lu Bu and Gongsun Zan in the mountains for a long time, and if they can survive, their military literacy will not be bad, and both of them are Yellow Turban Qu Shuai, so they must have a certain level; Yang Feng was the captain of Montenegro canonized by the first emperor and led the bandits; Their men are veterans of war, and if they are recruited and trained a little, they are a strong army. ”

The suggestion of the two is very much in line with Gao Shun's intentions, he has in his hand the token given by Zhang Jiao at the beginning, the jade talisman and the nine-section sandalwood staff, which can command the thieves, but I don't know if they are willing to accept moderation now, in short, he has to try it once; In addition, Qin Guan's forces were originally arranged and supported by him, although Xi Zhicai and others had some guesses, they didn't dare to say it clearly; Of course, Gao Shun doesn't want outsiders to know about these things, even the closest ones.

After a short period of thought, Gao Shun decided: "Li Qiang and the others have nothing to do, and their hands are already itchy, I have decided that this matter will be taken care of by the officers and soldiers under the jurisdiction of the General's Mansion, which can be regarded as a kind of training for them, and you and the others should not interfere in this matter for the time being." ”

"Yes, my lord!" Xi Zhicai and Guo Jia happily agreed, as long as Gao Shun adopted their suggestions, their goal would be achieved, as for who would implement it, it was up to Gao Shun to decide, as long as they could complete their goal; Then they went to find a plan to negotiate a trip to Luoyang.

That night, Gao Shun recruited Li Qiang and Ma Gui to come to the General's Mansion to secretly negotiate the recruitment of the Montenegrin Army.

After listening to Gao Shun's plan, Ma Gui first objected: "Lord, you suggest not to be in a hurry, it is not used now, it does not mean that it will not be used in the future, now the lord is still loyal to the imperial court, and has been constantly pushing up the price of grain, and the big clans in the jurisdiction have all profited, temporarily alleviating the contradiction with them, so they did not rebel, and they supported the lord on the surface, but the strength of the support was not large; If things change in the future, the army is transferred to various places, the garrison in Jizhou is reduced, and when the price of grain is reduced, these big clans will definitely have changes, and then the importance of Qinguan will be brought into play. ”

Li Qiang said: "My lord, if all the Montenegrin army is recruited, other forces will be even more afraid of the main guild, so I suggest that the Montenegrin army in the three southern counties be recruited while fighting, creating the illusion of instability in Jizhou; If they can accept the orders of the jade talisman and the nine-section sandalwood staff, they are all co-opted; If they do not obey the order, they will take advantage of the situation to pacify the Montenegrin army in the three southern counties first, leaving only Qinguan in the north. ”

Ma Gui smiled: "Haha, we are strong and strong, why are we afraid of other people's opinions?" ”

Gao Shun thought for a while, and felt that Li Qiang's plan was better implemented, so he said: "Okay, this matter will be in charge of Meng Wen, Meng Zhen will assist, first recruit the Montenegrin army of the three southern counties of An, if Zhao'an fails, then encircle and suppress them, remove them, and only leave Qin Pass." ”

"Yes, my lord!" The two immediately responded, and Li Qiang seemed very happy.

Subsequently, Gao Shun handed over the jade talisman and the nine-section sandalwood staff to Li Qiang for safekeeping and use.