Linzi is the capital of Qi during the Warring States Period, the Qi people are chivalrous and scattered, in the Warring States Period Qi is the most relaxed country in law and discipline, pay attention to the rule of virtue and etiquette, and advocate freedom.

In addition, Qi is close to the sea and is located in the Central Plains, so there are many Ren Xia, merchants and scholars who come and go, and the people are rich and prosperous, and there has been a joint curtain to describe the prosperity of Qi State, of course, as the capital of Qi State, Linzi City is very majestic and tall, although it is not as magnificent as the architectural style of Qin, but it combines the delicacy of the Chu people, as well as the roughness of the north, majestic and noble.

Linzi City has three gates of south, north and east, back to the sea, a radius of about forty-five miles, in the heyday of Qi country, there are millions of people who often live, the city wall is built with huge stones, it is extremely solid, the top is the tamping loess that clay and glutinous rice are poured, the exterior is covered with bricks, there are seven or eight zhang high.

At this time, on the gallop road outside the north gate, you can see the loess dust and smoke in the distance, tens of thousands of people and young and strong people are mixed, as well as heavy ox carts, countless horses, a total of more than ten miles long, walking in a roundabout, looking like a soil dragon from a distance.

The leader is a young man riding a horse, and there is a heroic girl next to her, riding a horse with a sword, pulling her hair in a bun and wearing short clothes, which makes people can't help but praise, a handsome iron lady, that is, the two of them are the leader, slowly going to the city gate, and these two are Zhao Jun and Wuxing, after more than two months of long-distance travel, finally arrived in Linzi.

When they arrived near the city gate, Zhao Jun sent people to pass orders down layer by layer, so that the team stopped, but it still caused some commotion, and the people and horses hugged together before and after, almost scattered, after all, tens of thousands of people are not professional soldiers and there are many old and weak women and children, people call the horses neighing, it looks a little messy.

At this time, many county officials came out of the city gate, as well as the guards and others, and the people who watched the excitement nearby saw the people coming from the government, and they were immediately frightened to scatter, and the people who came were Sima Xin and Dong Fei with the county officials, and they all came out to meet Zhao Jun.

"Meet the Marquis of Shenwu." The crowd bowed in greetings.

Zhao Jun immediately asked, "Is the house and land you prepared ready?" ”

He had long expected the current situation, so when Sima Xin and Dong Fei came out of Xianyang, he explained.

"Back to Master Hou, it's ready." The two replied respectfully.

Zhao Jun nodded and said: "Very good, give you seven days to arrange the people brought by Benhou, there can be no shortage of houses and cultivated land, each family will be given enough food for three months, and the cultivated land tools must also be equipped in place, and spring plowing cannot be delayed." ”

"Yes, Master Hou."

Subsequently, Sima Xin took the scribes to arrange for the people, Dong Fei and the county guards took 10,000 cavalry of the horse gang and 10,000 old Qin recruits to the camp of the new army in the east of the city, and the baggage was brought back to the city by the Zhao army and guarded by the county guards.

Zhao Jun and Wuxing entered the city, Sima Xin is very good at doing things, in just two or three months, in the vicinity of the county guard mansion to rebuild a Shenwu Hou Mansion, Shenwu Hou Mansion sits in the north and faces south, there are high ques on both sides of the door of the mansion, majestic and solemn, the plaque on the door is engraved with the words Shenwu Hou Mansion, quite imposing.

The appearance of the Shenwu Marquis Mansion is not ostentatious, and the interior decoration is not luxurious, but the layout is neat, spacious and bright, with three halls in front and back, and side courtyards on the left and right.

There is a fresh and elegant courtyard at the end, the flowers and trees, the rockery is very cleverly arranged, and there is a small lake with a long corridor pavilion, and a pavilion next to it can see the scenery of the whole city.

Zhao Jun secretly said that this Sima Xin is really good at sycophancy, but he needs such a person who can do something for you that you don't want to talk about.

"Brother Jun, this Hou Mansion is really well built." Wuxing was in exile in Mobei when he was a child, and he has been growing up in the grassland, so he was very curious about everything after coming to the Central Plains.

"Hehe, okay, you will be the hostess here in the future, you go to the backyard to find a house to live in first." Zhao Jun arranged for Wuxing to live in the backyard, and then called Xiong Le and the four of them, and arranged the iron guards into the Hou Mansion, so that they could live in the side courtyard and guard the safety of the Hou Mansion at the same time.

When Wu Xing heard Zhao Jun call her the hostess, her face suddenly turned red, and she ran away with infinite joy in her heart, and then began to command the maids and servants in the mansion to clean up the Hou Mansion, but she felt that she was really not the material to be a housekeeper, so she ran to the backyard to see the scenery with a flick of her hand, and left the rest to the maid to clean up by herself.

And Zhao Jun took the roaring dog and rode around Linzi on a horse, and had a preliminary understanding of the situation.

Generally speaking, after the first emperor unified the world, especially after the destruction of the Qi country, Linzi was hit hard, whether it was commerce or agriculture, students have declined a lot, however, compared with other places, Linzi is still relatively prosperous, there are countless merchants and pedestrians on the street, it seems very lively, because there are more nobles and students from various families who have settled here, so the atmosphere is also a lot easier.

For a few days, after Sima Xin and Dong Peng arranged the recruits and their families, Zhao Jun was also initially familiar with Linzi City.

On this day, Zhao Jun summoned Dong Fei Sima Xin in the second hall and the council hall of the Hou Mansion, as well as several chief scribes in the county.

Zhao Jungao was in front of the north long case in the center of the council hall, listening to the basic situation report of several scribes on Linzi County.

There are a total of four counties in Linzi County, with a population of 730,000 people, each county has 500 standard county officials, and the others are a small number of county lieutenants and county commanders.

There is a tax, Linzi County is mainly based on plain farming and commerce, but because it is close to the sea, there is a natural deep alley, so there are a lot of freight and fishermen here, and this has become a heavy tax in Linzi County, accounting for about one-third of Linzi County's taxes.

"Only fifteen hundred gold a year in taxes? Why are there so few, are you playing with Benhou? Zhao Jun frowned and looked at a few people with a solemn look.

Now the population of the entire Daqin has a total of more than 23 million people, a total of 48 counties, so calculated, the population of a county is less than 500,000, but Linzi has a population of nearly 700,000, far more than other counties, plus the geographical and commercial advantages, Linzi is more than 1,500 gold in taxes, take Surabaya County as an example, the annual tax revenue is more than 3,400 gold.

Seeing that Zhao Jun was unhappy, when they touched Zhao Jun's fierce gaze, several scribes suddenly turned pale, and at the same time they were frightened, and their backs were also wet under Zhao Jun's momentum, just worried that Zhao Jun would use this to find them trouble, and give them a dismount, but they heard that the emperor's son-in-law, Shenwu Hou, was not easy to mess with.

Sima Xin looked at Zhao Jun's face and said: "Back to the Hou Ye, I don't blame them for doing things unfavorably, mainly related to the old atmosphere of Linzi, although the population is large, but most of them are not engaged in production, and the businessmen are even more cunning.

The most important thing is that Qi people cherish their homeland, do not go to our Great Qin, and oppose the government everywhere, as soon as they are guilty, they will flee into the sea by ship, while others are a nest of snakes and rats, and they cover each other when something happens, and the government has been working hard and losing money in order to deal with them.

The source of taxation has weakened, and the people have been constantly rubbing with the government, which is why Linzi is in the current situation. ”

"Bang!" Suddenly, Zhao Jun suddenly slapped one hand on the long case after hearing this, and shouted with a low face: "Enough, it's so tired of coping, did the imperial court send you officials to let you deal with the people, the local officials can't do anything, they can't restrain the people, they can't subdue the people, why should you let the family pay taxes to you." ”

Sima Xin and the others were taken aback by Zhao Jun's sudden angry shout, and they were all frightened when they heard Zhao Jun's accusation, and they were sincerely frightened and said, "It's the incompetence of the lower officials." ”

After Sima Xin pleaded guilty, a glimmer of light flashed in his eyes with his head down, what Shenwu Hou said just now was to grasp the main point, it seems that Hou Ye's political sense is not simple.

Zhao Jun glanced at a few people coldly, and forced himself to suppress his anger, he knew that they couldn't be blamed for it, let alone the officials below, now the Qin Dynasty was very hostile to the people of the Six Kingdoms, and the First Emperor didn't have that broad mind, most of them were unwilling to accept the old people of the Six Kingdoms from the heart, and most of the local officials were retired officers from the army, so they only knew how to treat the people roughly, so they would care about the people's hearts.

However, although Zhao Jun understands this, freezing three feet is not a day's cold, Qin Jun's notoriety has been buried, and it is not an overnight thing to break this layer of ice, and Zhao Jun does not have the experience of governing places, although he relies on the advantage of rebirth and sees the problem more thoroughly, but he doesn't know how to start when it is really implemented.

Rubbing his head, Zhao Jun said in a deep voice: "Let these go in advance, Dong Peng, you will start recruiting troops today, and in line with the principle of voluntariness, the treatment will be increased by twenty yuan per month." ”

"Voluntary? Twenty bucks? "Everyone was stunned after hearing this, you look at me, I look at you, since ancient times, recruitment has relied on forced conscription, whether you are voluntary or not, and it is rewarded and punished according to military merits, how can there be any monthly examples.

In fact, the principle of voluntariness does not apply to the present, there is no absolute preferential treatment, who wants to hang their head on the waistband of their trousers to become a soldier, and voluntary military service must also be established on the basis of the people in power have the will of the people, plus attractive treatment, only some people will voluntarily become soldiers, let alone now, even in the peaceful era of the previous life, how many people really volunteered to be soldiers?

It's just that Zhao Jun also has no way, and he learned from them that the relationship between the officials of Linzi and the people of Qidi is very bad, and if they are forcibly conscripting troops on a large scale, they will only force themselves to the opposite side of the people, and the road in the future will be even more difficult, let alone build Linzi into their own private kingdom.

(To be continued)