Mao Yujie, the new director of the Pingliang Taxation Bureau, is enthusiastic about her work. He selected dozens of soldiers from the Liang army who could read and write letters, intensively trained them in the collection methods and accounting methods of wartime taxes, preached work discipline, and divided them into tax collection teams.

A few days later, three tax collection teams were stationed in Zhenyuan, Guyuan, and Jingzhou, and began to collect wartime taxes from merchants in the three places.

In order to actively cooperate with the collection of wartime taxes, Feng Suqin instructed the industries under the name of the Xu government to fully cooperate with the collection work of the Taxation Bureau, which can be regarded as a good start for the collection of wartime taxes.

Naturally, there is a feeling of resistance from businessmen. On the day of the expropriation in Zhenyuan City, more than a dozen businesses refused to pay, and the shopkeeper also threatened to go to the capital to denounce the illegal acts of Pingliang and Xu Liang, and expropriated them violently.

When the news was reported to Xu Liang, Xu Liang sneered for a while, brought in Director Mao, and instructed viciously: "If anyone refuses to pay the wartime tax, we will not arrest anyone, and if you arrest someone and put them in prison, you have to take care of the food money, which is not cost-effective!" Those who refuse to pay will be ordered to close down! If the order is invalid, the firm will be seized and the assets will be confiscated! Hmph, the official's treasury is empty! ”

With Xu Liang's strong instructions, Director Mao's waist was much stiffer, and when he demanded again, he was ruthless and acted strictly according to the requirements. Seven businesses were closed in a matter of days.

Seeing this, the other businesses that were still waiting and seeing understood that the government was serious this time, and after weighing it, they relented. The reason for this is that you can't do it!

This is because although the wartime tax is a temporary increase in taxes, the tax rate is basically the same as that of the commercial tax, and it is still levied once a month for one of the thirty. This is actually a real drizzle for many merchants, and the business will be profitable in two or three days. If you fight to the death with the government, close the door and close the business. The money lost invisibly is more than several times.

Businessmen are profit-seeking, and abacus is a thief, and this account will still be calculated.

It's just that. In the past few days, piles of big feces and dog feces began to appear inexplicably in the front yard of Xu's mansion. I don't know which immoral ghost threw it, it was cleaned up the first day, and it was there again the next morning, which made the front yard of Xufu stink.

Xu Liang was furious and ordered the Tsing Yi guards to detect the murderer. The next day, a party was arrested by the Tsing Yi Wei scouts who were waiting nearby, and after an interrogation, the merchants behind the scenes also surfaced. Xu Liang was the master of the resignation, and ordered Huang Daozhou to be arrested and thrown into prison in the name of storming the government. The property under the name of the merchant was also seized and confiscated.

I inadvertently added a windfall.

Half a month after the pre-war tax was collected, Mao Yujie, the director of the Taxation Bureau, held the account book and reported the results to Xu Liang. Xu Liang looked at it for a while, Zhenyuan County collected 3,217.24 yuan, and Jingzhou County collected 2,400.206 yuan.

Xu Liang nodded again and again with a smile, and then saw the detailed items, and unexpectedly found that the tax silver paid by the Liang family in Jingzhou accounted for the majority of the tax silver in Jingzhou, which was as much as six hundred taels.

Liang Yinxian really deserves to be an old fox, he has a very accurate grasp of the shape, and knows that Xu Liang is short of money, so he actively supports it.

Xu Liang finally turned to the page of Guyuan Prefecture. The smile on his face instantly froze, and he asked Master Mao in surprise: "What's the matter, why did Guyuan levy such a little silver?" Less than five hundred taels? ”

Director Mao listened. His face showed a look of anger, and he said: "My lord, that Guyuan Zhizhou Zhang Fengqi does not support the collection of war taxes at all, and the people from the Taxation Bureau go down, Zhang Zhizhou does not even provide an office place, nor does he arrange for the officials to cooperate, just these more than 400 taels of silver, or the tax officials of the Guyuan Taxation Group personally come to the door and go door to door. I begged my grandfather to tell my grandmother to accept it. ”

When Xu Liang heard this, his heart suddenly scattered the remaining trace of guilt that blocked Zhang Fengqi's promotion to the official position. slapped the table hatefully and scolded: "Old man Zhang." Regardless of the overall situation, one day, Lao Tzu will settle accounts with him! ”

Xu Liang is just verbally scolding, in fact, with the current shape of Pingliang Mansion, even the location of the government is in the hands of thieves, and Xu Liang's prestige as a Pingliang Tongzhi can be said to be nothing. At this time, not to mention that taking down a Zhizhou from Wupin, that is, withdrawing a small official who is not in the stream, he has to weigh it.

Director Mao looked at Xu Liang's face and asked cautiously, "My lord, what should I do?" Or do you want to withdraw the tax collection team in Guyuan? ”

Xu Liang shook his head and said, "No!" The imposition of a war tax is a policy announced in public at the meeting, and if the tax collection team is withdrawn at this time, will it not be a slap in the face? Where is the prestige of this official? ”

"That'...... What should I do? Director Mao scratched his head.

Xu Liang sneered and said, "If the Guyuan Prefecture Government does not send people to collect taxes, then the Taxation Bureau will directly send people to collect them!" Insufficient manpower, you go to General Xing and let him give you all the manpower! Hmph, without him Zhang Butcher, we still have to eat hairy pigs? Amusing! ”

Master Mao got the idea, and happily went to the Liang army camp to find Xing Zhongshan to ask for someone.

The first wartime tax was collected, and nearly 6,000 taels of sharp silver were collected, which relieved the urgent need of the Liang army. With this money, the expansion of the Liang army could proceed smoothly. Xu Liang was overjoyed, thinking that in the past month since he arrived in Pingliang, except for one expedition with Wu Zhiwang, the governor of the three sides, he has not had any more contact with the thieves.

At this time, the Liang army had 15,000 foot soldiers, and had the ability to fight against a small group of thieves. Xu Liang didn't want the thieves to have an easy time. So he ordered the Tsing Yi guards to scout and ride out to find out the news of the thieves' activities, and ordered Xing Zhongshan, Dai Feng, Wan Wenshan and other Liang generals to lead a Liang army of 2,000 people each, avoid the towns guarded by the thieves, find the lone thief team, and rush to kill them when they see the opportunity, and then withdraw after killing for a while. Find another opportunity to go out and fight again, and fully carry forward Xu Liang's so-called guiding ideology of fighting a battle and changing places.

All of a sudden, the news spread frequently. On the 10th day of the seventh month, the deputy general Xing Zhongshan led his troops to defeat more than 1,000 thieves near Shuangfeng Fort and kill more than 400 people. On July 12, Dai Feng, a guerrilla general of Pingliang, met with 3,000 people of the main force of the thief Guotianxing in Baishiyuan, tore them apart for a while, and was defeated, killing more than 1,200 enemies. On July 18, Wan Wenshan, the head of the Liang army, led his troops to defeat the robber defenders of Longde who had plundered out of the city, killing more than 800 enemies......

When the battle report was reported to the court, everyone rejoiced. Emperor Chongzhen issued an order to promote Xu Liang to the fourth grade, and reward a thousand taels of silver!

Although Xu Liang didn't look down on the more than 1,000 taels of silver, the incentive effect of rank improvement was quite significant. Under Xu Liang's instructions, the various units of the Liang army attacked in all directions, breaking through the team of thieves one after another.

From the tenth day of July to the beginning of August, the Liang army won successive battles, although it has not attacked the town, but under the constant piecemeal fighting, the thieves from all over the country are like frightened birds, and they do not go out of the city, and they must go out of the city with tens of thousands of troops.

This made Liang Jun helpless! In the final analysis, the Liang army is also an army that has not been formed for more than a year, and it is not rich in combat experience, and it can rush up to fight a dozen in the face of a considerable or two or three times the team of thieves, and if it encounters a team of tens of thousands of people, it will rush up to the death, and it is really looking for death.

The pair entered a short-term stalemate.

In Xu's house, the warm August sun shone into the courtyard, leaving dappled light and shadow in the surrounding corridors. After Xu Liang practiced Dai's introductory knife technique in the shade of a tree for a while, he just sat down to rest, Xing Zhongshan and Wan Wenshan were dressed in armor, and they came over with high spirits.

The two of them surrounded Xu Liang Bibi for a while, and Xu Liang stood up and exclaimed, "What, you want to form a cavalry?" Immediately, his eyes lit up, and his mind imagined his freshly dressed and angry horses, the murderous cavalry phalanx behind him, his right arm shook slightly, and the magnificent scene of thousands of horses galloping behind him, he couldn't help but breathe rapidly, clapped his hands and shouted: "Okay, let's practice cavalry!" ”

Xing Zhongshan and Wan Wenshan glanced at each other, and when they saw that Xu Liang also agreed, they were greatly encouraged, and said with their hands on their hands: "My lord, if our Liang army also has cavalry, it will move quickly, come and go like the wind, it can be attacked, and it can be retreated." In this way, even in the face of tens of thousands of thieves, the last general has the confidence to fight. ”

Xu Liang nodded again and again, his face flushed with excitement, and he said: "Most of the thieves are foot soldiers, if we have a cavalry, it will not be a piece of cake to hunt them down!" With the cavalry in hand, why can't you take Pingliang City? ”

"Uh," Wan Wenshan saw Xu Liangle, just thinking of the benefits of having cavalry, but not the difficulty of building cavalry, he couldn't help but say: "My lord, our Liang army formed cavalry, and the first thing to bear the brunt of it was horses." The last general and General Xing have counted it, and at present we have 600 military horses in our army, but to form a large-scale cavalry, at least 3,000 horses are required. This is a big gap...... I wonder if adults have a solution? ”

Xu Liangshang's joy was contemplating the might of the cavalry, and when he heard Wan Wenshan talk about the horses, he reacted, thought about it carefully, and suddenly collapsed, and said with his hands stretched out in distress: "There are so many horses missing, where can I find them for you?" The people of Pingliang are so poor that they can't even eat, who will raise horses for you?! ”

Xing Zhongshan and Wan Wenshan listened, blinked their eyes, and looked at Xu Liang with a blank eye, hoping that Xu Liang could think of another way to come out.

Xu Liang was stunned by the pitiful eyes of the two, and shouted angrily: "What do you think of me like this? Could it be that I can still conjure a horse! ”

"Yo, Lord Xu, what's the matter, so angry?"

Suddenly, a joking voice came. (To be continued)