From Taiyuan to Wolf Mengsai, it took seven days for Zhidu. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Along the way, he saw a thriving straight road full of traffic.

Countless horse-drawn carriages, ox carts and even wheelbarrows carry countless goods of all kinds and walk on the straights.

People rush to be the first to engage in trafficking.

Many people even simply carry their hands on their shoulders, carrying large and small goods, and trudging through the autumn roads.

When he was hungry, he took out the dry food from his bosom, put it in a pot and heated it, and ate it with a vinegar cloth; When you are thirsty, you drink mountain springs or even river water.

As for those big tycoons, they directly used expensive heavy-duty carriages with heavily armed guards to escort thousands of goods.

Some teams stretch for two or three miles, more than a thousand!

Standing at the head of the city, Zhi Du looked at the gate of the city, waiting in line for the carriages, ox carts and crowds out of the city, and was speechless for a long time.

"Wang Xuan, what is the number of people who go out of the Wolf Jam every day?" Zhidu turned his head and asked Wang Xuan, the wolf beside him, Wang Xuan is the old department of Zhidu, five years ago, when Zhidu served as the county guard of Henan County, Wang Xuan was a miscellaneous servant of the county guard of Henan County, because of his diligence and intentions, he was promoted by Zhidu, all the way from fighting food to today's wolf fierce order, rank is more than 1,000 stones!

In front of the old superior and benefactor, Wang Xuan naturally did not dare to hide it in the slightest, and replied: "Back to the king, since the summer and May, the wolf has been out of the fortress for as much as 3,000 and as little as 2,000 ...... every day."

He looked at the dense gate of the city, which was almost completely occupied by the crowd, and said in horror: "Half of them are civilians who trafficked materials to Dragon City on their own......

Ever since the trade in Dragon City flourished, there has been a terrible wave of trafficking in the Daibei region.

Moreover, because there are many successful people, it is getting more and more intense.

Initially, most of the participants were local magnates or ranger leaders, but as the profits of the Dragon City trade became more and more exaggerated.

The middle and lower classes of the people also began to join in.

Many peasants even simply carried their own grain and cloth from home, and embarked on the road of peddlers.

Some clever people even fired their own ceramic vessels or bronze utensils and sold them to Dragon City in the hope of getting rich.

However, how can the road to riches be so easy?

Fortunately within the Great Wall, these people only had to endure some hardships at most.

But when they left the Great Wall and entered the wilderness, they could only ask for more blessings for themselves.

In the past few months, there has been a surge in bandits and caravans on the road from Wolf Jam to Dragon City.

Almost every day, the bodies of civilians killed by robbers and horse bandits can be found.

In order to maintain the safety of the trade routes, and at the same time to improve their political achievements, the Juzhu army and the county guard of Shang County organized a patrol force of more than 4,000 cavalry and began to carry out uninterrupted patrols of the grasslands, and the county guard even directly authorized the army to act cheaply and kill all those they thought might be horse bandits and thieves.

But it still has no deterrent effect.

Horse bandits and thieves are still rampant.

They also waged guerrilla warfare with the army, and the enemy advanced and we retreated, and the enemy retreated and we advanced.

And the people, although they also know that the road is bumpy and the safety is in doubt.

But the pursuit of wealth made them abandon all fear and fear, and resolutely embarked on this unknown road of unknown life and death.

"The people are not afraid of death, so why should they be afraid of death......" Zhi Du looked at this situation, and could only sigh with emotion.

Along the way, he sent a large number of officials and aides to these people and merchants to ask them the purpose of their trip and why they did not spend their birthdays at home. and a few other issues.

The answer he got made Zhi Du tremble and couldn't help himself!

Almost the vast majority of the people gave the answer - to get rich!

Some people made a fortune just because they heard about so-and-so in a neighboring county, picked up some cloth and enamel at home, and sold them to Longcheng.

He went home and built a new house, married a fine gentleman, and bought hundreds of acres of land, not even bothering to inquire, and embarked on this journey full of dangers, thorns, and unknowns with the cloth and salt in his own house.

Many people even need to spend three months and thousands of miles to transport their goods to Dragon City and sell them to those Hu people who need them.

In the face of such a situation, Zhidu, who was born in a Legalist family, felt that his three views were a little confused, and his position was almost impossible to control.

Such a situation, in traditional Legalist thinking, is naturally abnormal and needs to be corrected.

But the problem is that the world is an era of great ideological development after the Warring States period.

In Zhidu's vision, there are not only the thoughts and expositions of Legalism, but also the theories and expositions of the Huang Lao School, Mohists, Miscellaneous Schools, and even Confucianism.

All kinds of ideas are fiercely clashing in society, among the people, and even in the political arena, competing with each other and blending with each other.

At the time of the Warring States Period, hundreds of schools of thought copied a lot.

It's pretty much the same today.

Confucianism will copy and absorb some advanced ideas of Legalism and Huang Lao.

The Legalist will also not become a blind man, unable to see the things of the Mo family, Huang Lao, and miscellaneous families.

The fierce competition and blending of ideas created a broad vision of the Han family's high-level leaders.

Even Taohou Liu She, who was once considered to be a sycophant, has made remarkable achievements in the position of Shaofu, and is well-known in the world, although he still can't get rid of the label of sycophant, but at least no one dares to say that he is a fortunate minister, and at most he scolds a few words.

The difference between this minister and the fortunate minister is huge!

Xingchen didn't have the slightest ability, and he purely relied on patting on the back, and he was fortunate to advance.

When the first emperor was the emperor, Lang Zhong ordered Zhou Ren, and Deng Tong, the eunuch of Taizong, was the representative of Xingchen.

But the minister is capable, and he is a minister who is enough to bring disaster to the world.

Even Liu She can grow into a minister, and Zhidu, a goshawk, will naturally not be left behind.

Among the many popular ideas and discourses in the world, there is a saying that has been turning over and over in Zhidu's mind for the past few months.

"The king of all multipliers, the lord of a hundred rooms, is still suffering from poverty, let alone the people of the people?"

"The deep is born and the fish come out, the mountains are deep and the beasts come out, and the rich people are attached to benevolence and righteousness......"

This is a miscellaneous statement, from "The Theory of the Wealth of the People".

Nowadays, almost everyone in the major giants of Legalism has a copy of this book.

Almost subconsciously, all the Legalist giants have a huge hostility and wariness towards this book and its contents.

This is not only because of the historical grievances and grievances between Legalists and miscellaneous families, but also because some of the remarks in this book hit the soft underbelly of Legalist thought.

"It seems that my generation of legalists has to write a copy of "The Wealth of Nations" to fight back......" Zhi Du thought to himself.

Under the banner of people's wealth, miscellaneous families swagger through the market, and their demagoguery and brainwashing abilities are particularly strong, especially for businessmen and poor families, and the attraction and temptation are huge.

If you want to defeat this unhealthy trend, the only thing Legalists can do is to compete with it.

You say the people are rich? Then I'll talk about the wealth of the country!

In this way, it attracts and influences the judgment of the ruler.

It's just that this thing can't be done in a moment.

In particular, he is actually very poor in writing.

Among the nine Qings of the Han family, his rhetorical ability and writing ability have always been countdown.

In this matter, we can only rely on Chao Cuo, Zhao Yu, Zhang Tang and others to work hard.

However, standing at the head of the wolf city, Zhidu still found something unusual.

He turned his head to look at Wang Xuan and asked, "Who is the person who inspected and distributed the bamboo talisman at the city gate?" ”

"Oh...... These are the officials stationed in the Wolf Fortress by the lord and the captain......" Wang Xuan said with a smile: "All the people who go out of the fortress need them to issue identity bamboo talismans and tariff deeds before they can get out of the fortress, otherwise, if there is no identity bamboo talisman and tariff deed, no one will dare to buy this person's goods not only when they go to Longcheng, but also if they want to come back, they can't!" ”

"Lord Lieutenant?" Zhi Du frowned slightly, of course he knew that this new government office was established today.

Since his current ascension, he has founded three entirely new institutions.

The first is the current metropolitan protectorate system.

The governor of the capital protectorate, with a high and powerful position, and a feudal territory, is almost a prince with a different surname.

Today's Governor of Anbei Metropolitan Protectorate is a chariot general and governor of Anbei Metropolitan Protectorate.

It's just that now, the Anbei Protectorate is still in the process of planning and preparation, and Yiyi Zong did not go to Taiyuan.

This second is the embroidered clothes guard that makes officials, scholars, doctors and nobles smell it.

In the past few years, with the increasing achievements of the embroidered guards, the bureaucrats, nobles and scholars no longer dare to talk openly and casually, otherwise God knows if there are any spies from the embroidered guards listening?

This third is this seemingly inconspicuous lord Duwei Yamen.

Since the establishment of the Lord Commander, although the scale has increased more than tenfold compared to the original, his status is still humble.

Gongsun Hong, the left captain of the lord Duwei, was only promoted to 1,000 stone two months ago.

Inside this yamen, most of them are the children of merchants, and they are regarded as a yamen that purely deals with merchants.

Since it is a yamen that deals with merchants, of course, the scholars and gentlemen will not pay too much attention.

Staring at a businessman's yamen every day, isn't it a loss of gentlemanly demeanor?

Zhidu, as Jiuqing, of course, didn't have the time to pay attention to a yamen with a few thousand stones.

However, here, in this wolf jam, there was an official and subordinate of the small lord Duwei Yamen who was inconspicuous in Chang'an.

And it seems that the people of this lord and the Yamen seem to control and control all the business travel access and exit power in and out of the Great Wall?

That's no small feat!

Since ancient times, taxation is the right to finance, and the right to wealth is authority.

Why is Shaofu a cow?

Because Shaofu is rich!

In the same way, the big peasants who control the land tax and part of the salt and iron income have also been bullish in recent years, opening and closing their mouths with Kunming Pond and Baochuan Road, and their faces are full of the temperament of a big dog.

Today, the lord and lieutenant control the power to enter and exit the Great Wall, as well as the power to collect taxes.

It won't be able to take off in the future?

Thinking like this, Zhidu began to raise his vigilance.

He hurriedly asked: "Lord Lieutenant, the rank is no more than a thousand stones, where did he get such great power?" ”

"Returning to the ...... of the lord" Wang Xuan smiled awkwardly and said: "The tax captain of the lord Duwei stationed in my wolf Mengsai is named Yang Ke, and it is said that he is the proud disciple of the lord Duwei Gongsun Hong, and he claims to be the incarnation and shadow of Gongsun Duwei...... And Gongsun Duwei, the Son of Heaven Xingchen, the fake Son of Heaven Festival to the world's merchants, vehicles, ships, and mining taxes, this Yang Xiaowei is even more in his hands on the Son of Heaven's Day, and has also received the support of the Juzhu Army and the acting king...... Of course, there is a right to this wolf smash ......"

"Besides, the king doesn't know, it is said that under this Yang lieutenant, there is also a team of tax collectors, a total of more than 800 people, fully armed, it is said that they are all composed of Han people who returned from the Xiongnu back then, extremely fierce and brutal......"

Wang Xuan's words revealed countless news, which made Zhidu's expression suddenly nervous.

Zhi Du could never have imagined that a small tax lieutenant in the Yamen, who was almost inconspicuous in Chang'an, might not be able to rank more than 400 stones.

But he controlled and mastered the authority to enter and exit the Great Wall, and raised an army for tax collection!

Judging from the situation introduced by Wang Xuan, I am afraid that none of these tax collectors are good stubble!

If you think about it, you can understand who were the people who were able to flee from the Han Dynasty to the Xiongnu?

As the ruling Jinwu, Zhi Du knows too well the quality of these people!

In fact, in the past, the people who would flee from the Han dynasty to the Xiongnu were, in addition to the rebellious ministers and criminal ministers, were those murderers, thieves and vicious scum who were wanted by the government and had no way to escape.

"How does this Yang collect taxes?" Zhi Du hurriedly asked, he had already guessed something.

"Returning to the king, this Captain Yang is still very law-abiding, and the taxes he collects are all levied in accordance with the provisions of the "Ping Law"......" Wang Xuan introduced with a smile: "Of course, in addition, the business travelers in and out of the Great Wall have to pay some miscellaneous fees such as road maintenance fees and army patrol fees, but this kind of tax is not much, and a car is only ten yuan......

When the tax collector of the lord and the lieutenant first came to the wolf, Wang Xuan resisted.

I think they're here to grab power.

But now, Wang Xuan has become a mess with these people.

The reason is very simple - after the lord and lieutenant collect the tax, he will leave thirty percent for him to divide with the Juzhu army and the upper county.

Although this money cannot go into his private pocket, it can be used to brush up on political achievements.

Today, the prosperity of the wolf fortress and the cleanliness of the city are inseparable from the taxes of the lord and the captain.

You know, a few years ago, the wolf was notoriously bitter haha.

"I know......" After listening to Wang Xuan's answer, Zhi Du couldn't tell what it was like?

Because he already knows that what he guessed is becoming true.

More than thirty years after being deposed, the "Golden Cloth Law" and the "Shang Law" are crawling back to the world from hell through the hands of the lord Duwei Yamen.

At that time, the worries of the ministers at the court meeting about the "Peaceful Law" were becoming a reality.

And if these two laws are finally revived, then the whole world will be completely different.

Zhidu has almost no doubt that it is very likely that in the future, the commercial tax will surpass the field tax and become the third largest tax source in the country after the calculation tax and the salt and iron tax, and even directly become the country's largest tax source!

Financial power is power.

Money, power!

Once such a situation happens, the social status of the businessman is destined to soar!

After all, you can't discriminate and suppress businessmen while ruling the world with their money.

This is unreasonable and will definitely go wrong.

Even more troublesome......

Once this happens, there will be a huge earthquake in both the government and the opposition.

The emperor wants to collect a commercial tax?

In the past, this may not have been a big problem, after all, the ministers and nobles were estranged from the merchants.

But this is no longer the case.

Countless ministers have businessmen's white gloves.

If the emperor received the tax from them, they would probably not agree.

This means that the sword of the Son of Heaven may be stained with blood again.