Liu Xin was suspicious in his heart, now that it was nearly a year old, and there was no turmoil in the world, what urgent could the imperial court send it, so he hurriedly ordered: "Send it quickly." ”

When he read the urgent letter from beginning to end, he couldn't help laughing, turned his hand to Fu Zhi, and said, "It's true that someone sent a pillow when I dozed off." Gonghe, take a good look, didn't this crime come to the door? ”

Han Xi also stepped forward, read the urgent letter, and hurriedly said to Liu Xin: "Congratulations to the lord, in this way, the teacher is famous!" ”

Fu Zhu also said happily: "According to the requirements of this urgent matter, as long as the plan is right, everything is out of public intentions, compared to revenge, this realm is very different!" ”

Liu Xin stood up and said with a resolute face: "Gonghe and Zhicai, you two work hard, use this time to plan well, and after the first month, I will use troops against them, this time I will solve the problem of the four counties together!" ”

The two of them also responded excitedly in unison: "The subordinates obey the order!" ”

It turned out that the world had returned to peace, and the county guards had also successively paid taxes into Beijing, but after all, there were only a few who could pay the full amount. Seeing this, Liu Hong, who was greedy for money, was very dissatisfied, and thought about trying to make up the payment from all over the country, so he handed over this task to his most trusted two people, Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong, Zhang Rang was responsible for collecting taxes in the north, and Zhao Zhong was responsible for collecting taxes in the south.

Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong originally wore a pair of pants, and they were favored in front of Liu Hong at the same time, one was called a father by Liu Hong, and the other was called a mother by Liu Hong, and their status was originally comparable. Later, Zhang Rang did several things very beautifully, so that Liu Honglong's face was happy, and gradually his status in Liu Hong's mind was higher than that of Zhao Zhong. This tax collection is a beautiful difference, but the north is relatively richer than the south, which means that Zhang Rang's place is better than Zhao Zhong's, from which it can be seen that the positions of the two people have deviated.

Zhao Zhong didn't find the reason from himself, but counted all this on Liu Xin's head. Because Zhang Rang brought him good news several times when Liu Hong was most annoyed, it can be regarded as a relief in the snow, so that he has gained Liu Hong's trust more and more, and almost all of these good news are related to Liu Xin. In addition, Zhao Zhong also heard that Zhang Rang had received countless benefits from Liu Xin, and his eyes became more and more hot.

Zhao Zhong is not stupid, he understands in his heart that the counties are too guarded to withhold taxes, in addition to squandering them themselves, they are more used to strengthen their own strength. The fact that these taishou dared to ignore the imperial court's decrees repeatedly shows that they have formed a force in the local area, and large or small forces need money to maintain, no matter who comes to collect taxes, the county taishou will not be willing to pay for it.

So why is it still said that collecting taxes is a bad thing? Because Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong didn't think about really collecting the taxes, they just wanted to take this opportunity to make a big profit. Of course, it would be best if you could collect your taxes and fill your own pockets. After Liu Hong asked him to collect taxes in the south, Zhao Zhong was the first to think of Liu Xin. Liu Xin is the pastor of Jingzhou, and he should be responsible for the collection of taxes in the whole state, and it is not good for him to do anything for any reason, as long as he can bring up the tax arrears in Jingzhou, he has not received even a single copper coin in other places, it is a great achievement. As for how Liu Xin went to collect the tax arrears from the Taishou under his jurisdiction, it was not for him to consider.

In the past two years, Jingzhou has owed more than 400 million taxes to the imperial court, and Liu Xin begged those Taishou for it, which is tantamount to seeking skin with the tiger. Over the years, several Taishou have intercepted the taxes that should have been handed over to the imperial court, recruited troops and horses, and constantly expanded their strength, who is willing to obediently hand over the money? If Liu Xin can fight with those Taishou and lose both, it will make Zhao Zhong feel even more happy.

Zhao Zhong gave Liu Xin an urgent decree of 100,000 yuan this time, limiting him to hand over all the taxes owed to the imperial court by June next year. Although this is not a holy decree, the final words are very strong, and there is a faint threat to Liu Xin's official position.

More than 400 million tax arrears are nothing to Liu Xin now, a few days ago he just read the financial and tax statements of the five counties of Jingxiang sent by Fu Zhi, and now the assets that can be used at any time under his control have reached as much as 15 billion, of course, a large part of this comes from the income from the sale of land and shops. Liu Xin didn't want to make trouble, so he would definitely hand over the money to the imperial court, but he wouldn't hand it over so easily. If he did not stretch out his hand to the county guards, he would pay the full amount of the tax arrears, and the direct consequence would be to attract Liu Hong's suspicion, and the greedy emperor would definitely ask him where he got so much money.

A few days later, Cai Mao was also replaced by Kuai Liang with a yellow shot. Liu Xin had already learned about Cai Mao's capture through the phantom, and was very angry, refusing to see him at all, and directly ordered him to think about it behind closed doors at home.

Approaching the Spring Festival, Jingzhou, which was still in crisis just now, seems to have suddenly regained calm. In order not to startle the snake, Liu Xin did a lot of play, deliberately put on a vice past and no longer pursue it, and spent the Spring Festival in peace, and even the court did not show the slightest rumor about the pursuit of tax arrears.

Before the Spring Festival, he took Cai Yan back to his parents' house. Cai Yong and his wife were shocked at first, because after the woman got married, she could not return to her parents' home without special circumstances. But Liu Xin ignored this, the two families are so close, it doesn't matter if they don't go back, now it's the New Year, and if they don't go back to their parents' house to see, it will be a little too much. Cai Yong and his wife haven't seen this baby daughter for a few months, and they all have tears in their eyes. When they learned that Cai Yan was already pregnant with Liujia, the old couple was even more ecstatic.

On Chinese New Year's Eve, Liu Xin first went to the orphanage to comfort the orphans, and then went to the barracks to visit the soldiers on duty, and then returned to the mansion to hold various ceremonies.

The Baodian box was placed on the offering table again, and Cai Yan had already heard the magical story about this box, and was very interested in the box in front of him that changed Liu Xin's fate. Whether it is Liu Chong or Liu Jian, they attach great importance to part of the box in their hands, and the women in the family are not allowed to touch the box, or even look at it. Now the whole box is in Liu Xin's hands, however, he will not abide by this rule, and even if he wants to abide by this rule, Ma Yun will not agree, she can often hold this box in her hand and play with it. Liu Xin remembered that his father-in-law once said that this box was circulated from the palace, as if it was used by the concubine to hold jewelry.

Cai Yan proposed to take a look, but Liu Xin naturally had no objection and handed it over directly to her. The workmanship of the box is very exquisite, Cai Yan took it in his hand and looked at it repeatedly, without speaking.

Liu Xin smiled: "It's just a box, look at what you're doing so carefully." If it hadn't been handed down by my father-in-law, I would have given it to you for your jewelry. ”

Cai Yan suddenly said: "Husband, this box doesn't look like it's used for jewelry." ”

Liu Xin knew that she was from a famous family, and Cai Yong made friends with many literati and scholars, low ministers and doctors, so she must have seen a lot of knowledge, if she suspected that it was not used to put jewelry, then it was really possible that it was not used for jewelry, so she asked: "Yan'er, what do you think it is used for?" ”

Cai Yan frowned and thought for a long time, and said, "I can't say it, anyway, this box is a little special, let's put it away first." ”

During the dinner, Liu Xin also invited a guest, Guo Jia's mother Lin, who stayed alone in Xiangyang. Every time she sees this hard-working and simple woman, Liu Xin has a sense of respect from the bottom of her heart.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, it was a group worship as usual, and then it was a long holiday, Liu Xin also stayed in the house to tease the children and daughters, and lived happily, and even the entire Xiangyang City was full of a peaceful and peaceful atmosphere.

In fact, under this calm surface, there was an undercurrent surging, and Liu Xin's preparations did not relax for a moment. Under the command of Fu Zhi, the Phantom Spy was divided into several teams, and had already infiltrated the counties of Jiangxia in batches, listening to all kinds of news separately. Xu Huang's First Legion and Zhang Fei's Second Legion also canceled all vacations, and the vigilance of the Flying Tiger's personal guards was significantly strengthened.

At this time, Liu Xin's advantages of dividing the army into local armies and regular legions were revealed. The two major armies carried out a series of war preparations before and after the Spring Festival, not only preparing enough grain and grass, but also drawing some troops from the third and fourth armies to supplement them. Since the mobilization of grain and grass materials does not need to go through the local government and the transfer of the army, the county guards have no right to intervene. Therefore, the news was well blocked, and even Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue were kept in the dark, and they didn't even get any warning in advance.

On the second day of the second month of the third year of Zhongping, Liu Xin suddenly summoned Wenwu again to the state pastoral mansion to discuss matters. Kuai Liang and the others had already put Huang Zu's matter behind them, and they only thought that Liu Xin had summoned them now just to arrange various affairs for the new year.

Liu Xin slowly walked into the hall, went straight to the top and sat down, and said to everyone: "Ladies and gentlemen, the imperial court has sent an urgent document to urge us Jingzhou to collect the tax arrears of the previous two years. As we all know, in the past two years, the taxes of the five counties of Xiangyang and Nanyang have been paid in full, and the four counties of Jiangxia, Lingling, Wuling, and Guiyang are in arrears, among which Jiangxia has the most tax arrears. Over the years, they have openly flouted the laws of the imperial court, refused to pay taxes, and ignored all the official documents issued to them by their officials. How is this kind of behavior different from rebellion? As the saying goes, the thief captures the king first, and the official has decided now, that is, to start up and send troops to fight against Jiangxia! ”

Kuai Liang hurriedly got up and said: "Back to the lord, the swords and soldiers are together, the lives are ruined, and I hope the lord will think twice." ”

Liu Xin waved his hand at him and said, "Mr. Zirou, I know that you have always been benevolent and righteous, and I appreciate this. However, in the face of justice, it is inevitable that someone will make sacrifices, which is unavoidable. In the long run, the country will not be a country! ”

Kuai Liang hesitated: "My lord, Huang Zu and the others did not openly rebel. If you send troops to fight him because of last year's incident, you will still talk about the past. Now that the matter has been revealed, I am afraid that some divisions will be unknown if they send troops again. ”