It was Cai Yong who broke the silence first and said: "The lord's words made the old man feel deeply ashamed. After reading books for so many years, Lao Yukong thought that he was full of wealth, but now that he looks back, he really hasn't done much real things for the world and the big man. ”

Kuai Liang and the others also said together: "The words of the lord are thought-provoking, and we should do our best in everything in the future." ”

Liu Xin couldn't help but sigh in his heart, he had been in this world for more than two years, and he hadn't actually done anything, most of the things were done by these people in front of him, and he couldn't help but say: "You are serious, you have worked hard all night for the people of Jingzhou, and the person who really needs to reflect is me." ”

Seeing that the atmosphere at the scene was a little solemn, he looked at the sky and said to Liu Xin: "Lord, this rain can't stop for a while, why don't you take this opportunity to visit the academy?" ”

Liu Xin immediately understood, and said with a smile: "It's okay, then how about asking Mr. Bo Jiao to be a guide?" ”

Cai Yong also came back to his senses and said happily: "This guide is a matter of old decay, everyone please come with me." ”

The whole academy occupies a large area, which is divided into two parts: teaching area and living area.

The college implements a fully enclosed teaching, all students live on campus, and the living area includes staff dormitories and student dormitories. Liu Xin attaches great importance to the enrollment of new students, and the children of Fu Zhu, Tian Feng, Kuai Liang, and Cai Mao can naturally be enrolled directly, and some children of the Shi clan who meet the requirements can also be enrolled. In addition, Liu Xin also specially arranged some places for recruiting children with good qualifications, but because of their poor families, they could not afford to study. The annual number of students enrolled is tentatively set at 90, the tuition fee is free of charge, and even the food and clothing are all borne by the state government.

The teaching area consists of three parts: classrooms, a library, and a martial arts arena. Liu Xin's ideal academy is not like Yingchuan Academy, which specializes in cultivating strategists, he hopes that Xiangyang Academy will cultivate talents in three aspects, including scribes, military generals, and future scientists!

Visiting the entire academy, the rain outside gradually stopped, the dark clouds dispersed, the sun showed a smiling face, and a rainbow hung in the sky.

Liu Xin pointed to the gorgeous colorful bridge and said meaningfully: "You see, the dark clouds really can't cover the sun. ”

Fu Zhu also said with a deep face: "All the lord's master's grasp! ”

However, is everything really under Liu Xin's control? Apparently impossible.

With the fall of the Yingchuan Yellow Turban, the road from Jingzhou to the capital was also opened, and Fu Zhu couldn't wait to send people to Luoyang to choose a suitable location to open a branch of Moxiangzhai. After all, Luoyang is the center of the world, the humanities will be extracted, and the sources are the most extensive and fastest, so it is imperative to open a branch of Moxiangzhai there.

Before the opening of the Luoyang branch of Moxiangzhai, Liu Xin also arranged an important thing for Fu to teach, that is, to release Jingzhou's taxes this year to the imperial court. Of course, Liu Xin was not stupid enough to bear the taxes of the entire Jingzhou, he only asked Fu Zhu to prepare about 430 million yuan in taxes from the five counties of Jingxiang, escorted by Zhao Yun and Wen Ping, and went to Luoyang.

Then, Liu Xin sent another official letter to the four counties of Jiangxia, Wuling, Lingling, and Guiyang, informing them to release their taxes to the imperial court. Liu Xin has his own little abacus, and what he is best at is black eating black. Nanyang Yellow Turban rebelled, Liu Xin successfully recovered Wancheng, Bei Yu and Su Dai rebelled, and he took the opportunity to take Nanjun. If there is any chaos in these four counties, Liu Xin's opportunity will come again. But he understands that all this is inseparable from the support of the imperial court, and Liu Hong must be on his side, and Liu Hong is the most greedy for money, and timely payment of taxes is something that has to be done.

After all, he was in charge of finances, and he handed over so much money at once, after all, he was a little bit of a go-getaway, and said to Liu Xin hesitantly: "Lord, Jingzhou has also suffered from the Yellow Turban this year, and the summer grain harvest in Nanyang and Nanxiang is almost gone, and it costs a lot to rebuild Wancheng and Zhangling. ”

Liu Xin laughed and said: "Gong He, but you only know one thing, but you don't know the other." What do you think, this Yellow Turban Rebellion lasted for most of the year, and the imperial court sent troops to recruit and suppress it many times, and the consumption of food and salary must be huge. If I had done this in previous years, it would have been the icing on the cake, but what I am doing now is a great thing to do. ”

As Liu Xin expected, Liu Hong has been annoyed recently.

Last year, there was a great drought in the north, and all localities used this excuse to ask for tax reduction, and now the population of the north is much larger than that in the south, and the tax revenue mainly comes from the north, so this year's day is not very good.

To add insult to injury, this year's Yellow Turbans have been up again for more than half a year, the imperial court has sent troops to clean up and suppress them repeatedly, and the treasury is almost empty, and this year's tax revenue has not been confiscated so far, and I don't know how many places will say that they have suffered from the Yellow Turban and are unable to pay taxes.

The Yellow Turban Rebellion has subsided, the pensions for the fallen and the rewards for the meritorious have not yet been settled, and the ministers and doctors have written one letter after another on requesting the implementation of these two things, many of which are asking Liu Hong to allocate money from the inner treasury. Now there is only some savings in the inner treasury, and the imperial court has long run out of money, but asking Liu Hong to take out money from the inner treasury is more uncomfortable than killing him.

At this moment, Zhang Rang ran in in a hurry, bowed to Liu Hong on the ground, and said loudly: "Your Majesty, great joy!" Liu Xin, Mu of Jingzhou, sent people to pay the annual taxes, totaling 430 million yuan, and has now been escorted to Beijing. ”

It turned out that Liu Xin ordered Zhao Yun and Wen Ping to escort the tax into Beijing, and asked them to go to see Zhang Rang first, because Liu Xin knew that as long as Liu Hong lived for one day, he could not offend Zhang Rang, and it was inevitable to send him some gold, silver and jewelry, but the benefits would definitely be more.

When Liu Hong heard this, he swept away the gloom, immediately smiled, and said, "Okay, it's really a great event." Liu Xin is good, I have solved my urgent need! ”

Zhao Zhong, who was standing on the side, suddenly said: "Your Majesty, Liu Xin's new Jingzhou pastor has not long dared to do anything to embezzle taxes, his crime is unforgivable, I hope the emperor will see it!" ”

Zhao Zhong was also one of Liu Hong's most trusted eunuchs, alongside Zhang Rang. In the past few years, Zhang Rang has received a lot of generous gifts from Liu Xin, but Zhao Zhong has not caught any of them, and he is very blushing. When Ma Yuanyi was arrested, Zhang Rang made great contributions. When Liu Hong was troubled several times, it was Zhang Rang who brought good news. Gradually, Zhang Rang's status was higher than Zhao Zhong's, and all of this was related to Liu Xin, Zhao Zhong regarded Liu Xin as a thorn in his eye, a thorn in the flesh, and wanted to get rid of him quickly.

As soon as Liu Hong heard that Liu Xin had even withheld taxes, his face changed and he said, "There is something going on!" Mother, you tell the truth. ”

Zhao Zhong cleared his throat and said: "Back to the emperor, Jingzhou's taxes paid to the imperial court in previous years were about 600 million yuan, but this year Liu Xin only paid 430 million yuan, at least 170 million yuan was shorted by him, this money must have been filled by him, and he asked the emperor to ask him for his guilt!" ”

Zhang Rang was still nervous at the beginning, and he didn't know what handle Zhao Zhong had gotten Liu Xin, but when he heard him, he was relieved, because Wen Ping had already told him the details, so he said unhurriedly: "Back to the emperor, if you say so, Liu Xin is not only innocent, but also meritorious." Jingzhou used to be divided into seven counties, and after Liu Xin exterminated the Nanyang Yellow Turban, he once asked for a decree to divide Jingzhou into nine counties. This time, Liu Xin released the taxes of five of the counties, and the remaining four counties have refused to obey Liu Xin's orders, and they have their own policies. ”

Liu Hong didn't know the details of Jingzhou, but simply calculated, and found that Liu Xin did pay more taxes this year, and suddenly said with a big face: "Father is reasonable, Liu Xin is indeed meritorious, you see, what reward should be given to him?" ”

When Zhang Rang heard this, he was in the middle of it and said: "The emperor Mingjian, Liu Xinzhong loves the people, and he has been named the Marquis of Xiangyang at the beginning of the year. Liu Xin said that he didn't ask for a reward, he only hoped that the emperor could give him a house in this Luoyang city, and after five or six years, he would come to Luoyang to enjoy the blessings of Qingfu and be an idle marquis. ”

In fact, this is a strategy that Ma Yun came up with. Liu Xin's recent moves are a bit big, and he is also bent on winning the other four counties, which is inevitably suspicious. As the saying goes, if you have a high merit, you will be in trouble if you arouse Liu Hong's suspicions. As soon as these words were said, it showed that Liu Xin had no intention of staying in Jingzhou for a long time, and only wanted to be able to retire early and go home to retire, Liu Hong naturally would not be suspicious. Liu Hong didn't know that Liu Xin and Ma Yun had already expected that his life span would only be more than four years, and when he died, not to mention Jingzhou, even Luoyang, Liu Xin would have to make up his mind.

Liu Hong really put his mind at ease, but after all, he was a child, thought about it, and said: "Father, you tell Liu Xin to let him manage Jingzhou for me with peace of mind, I will never treat him badly, and when he returns to Luoyang, the position of the third prince is indispensable." As for the house he wants, I can give him a piece of land in Luoyang City, and he can build it himself, so that it can be built to suit his own heart. ”

Liu Hong seems to be thinking about Liu Xin, but in fact, it's not all about saving a few dollars.

Jingzhou's taxes were successfully paid to the imperial court, indicating that the road from Luoyang to Xiangyang was basically smooth. Although this does not mean that the road is necessarily safe, there must still be Yellow Turban remnants and bandits, but there will be no major problems for the brigade to pass.

At the same time, the news of the large-scale expansion of Xiangyang City also reached the capital. There are many big merchants in Luoyang, these shrewd businessmen are keenly aware of the business opportunities, and many of the big scholars in the north are also engaged in shops, so they will naturally not let go of this great opportunity to make money, and they have sent people to Xiangyang to explore the way.

After the expansion of Xiangyang City, the roads in the city have been renovated, two horizontal and three vertical six avenues are wide and straight, on both sides of the road, many tree pits have been dug, and when the spring of next year comes, there will be many street trees to be transplanted. On both sides of the avenue are busy construction sites, and immediately adjacent to the street are shops under construction. Behind the shops is the land that can be used for residential buildings, which will not be auctioned until after the Chinese New Year.

With the completion of the research institute, the medical school, and the academy, a number of officials' residences have also been built one after another, and Tian Feng, Fu Zhu, the Kuai brothers, and Cai Mao, who have children studying in the academy, have moved into new homes. And Liu Xin's state pastor's mansion, as well as Cai Yong, Xu Huang, Dian Wei, and Zhao Yun's mansions, are still under construction, and strive to be completed in Layue, so they are still crowded in the original state pastor's mansion.

On this day, what Liu Xin did not expect was that two uninvited guests came one after the other outside the door of the State Pastoral Mansion.