Strength is everything.

The Qin State relied on strong force to achieve the temporary unification of the country, but because of the defeat of the army on the battlefield, the country fell to the brink of collapse.

Six years, battles and honors and disgraces, victories and defeats, happiness and tears.

The greeting of the fathers and elders, the admiring eyes, the joy of the wives and children, at this moment, all turned into the catkins in the sky, fluttering and sprinkling, like a song of high and rapid Great Qin war songs, moistening and singing, west to Dunhuang, north to the Hetao, south to the river, east of the tiger prison of a large area of Qin land.

Connecting this vast area is a series of galloping roads that extend in all directions and have been re-repaired, which are like connecting the blood of the Qin State, and closely connecting the counties under the rule of the Qin State with Chang'an.

In the past two or three years, what really made the center of the Qin State run smoothly was a group of internal affairs officials headed by Chen Ping, among which Li Zheng, Guan Yue, Hou Xi, Zhao Ben and others were the pillars that supported the rejuvenation of the country.

After a turmoil of Li Bi's bribery, Chen Ping finally had the appearance of a big country prime minister, and now he is more familiar with Li Yuan's thoughts.

"Li Hou, you're a lazy person." Every night when reviewing the newspapers everywhere, Chen Ping would always smile helplessly at Xingyue, since he was fooled by Li Yuan into getting on the thief ship five years ago, Chen Ping has become a person who is too busy to be at home all day, even Zhang Suniang has to make an appointment in advance if he wants to see him.

Of course, this kind of busyness also made Chen Ping feel the trust of Liliang, throughout the ages, no king would be so relieved and bold to entrust state affairs to another person to control, which made Chen Ping not only moved, but also did not dare to relax a little.

Li Yuan's thunderous means are right in front of him.

It stands to reason that Li Bi deserves death even if he is guilty. is also willing, but he was still executed by Li Yuan's order according to the law, moody is the emperor, Chen Ping has already been on the phase, he doesn't want any more twists and turns.

In addition to Chen Ping, the minister of state, the criminal law power of the Qin State is now unified into the hands of the court captain Meng Hu, the young descendant of the Meng family, who was transferred from the army to the court captain who is also civil and martial, and is also doing a good job. The anti-corruption efforts within the Qin State were greatly strengthened after he took office.

As for Guan Yue, Hou Xi, Li Zheng and others, their names may not shine as brightly as Luo Jia, Li Zhongxiang, and Cao Xin, and few people mention them, but without their efforts, the victory of the Qin army would have collapsed like a castle built on a sand dune.

For example, the immigration work in Hexi is a matter of words and orders, but it is really implemented. But there are a thousand difficulties.

Guanzhong is rich and close to the capital.

Who wants to leave their homeland and beg for a living in a place full of yellow sand, aliens, and difficult to survive. Except for those who are involved in crimes.

In order to attract people to move westward, Li Zheng and other officials came up with one method after another, among these measures, reducing taxes in Hexi for three years and adjusting the tax rate in the Guanzhong Plain to 1 in 10. It is regarded as the first one.

The feasibility study report on the tax adjustment, drafted by Li Zheng and Guan Yue, who was ordered by Lang Zhong, was being discussed at the Qin State court meeting, and it was also at this court meeting. The pros and cons are hotly debated.

Taxation is the foundation of the country.

It is also the basis for all major activities and the normal operation of the government, in other words, without money, the country can no longer be called a state.

For a long time, the national tax of Qin has been maintained at the level of fifteen taxes and one, and the range of this tax is much lighter than that of the surrounding states of Chu, Changsha, and Wei.

The reason for the difference is very simple, although the territory of the Qin State is very large, the size of the army is not as large as imagined, and Li Yuan's elite army strategy is also very different from the practice of a large number of violent troops and winning by numbers, and at this point, the only one with a similar approach to the Qin State is Xiang Yu's Chu State.

Only elite soldiers have combat power; In order to win a decisive victory on the battlefield, of course, the first premise for doing so is to have a strong leader, Xiang Yu and Li Yuan can do this, but Wu Rui, Wei Bao and others cannot.

The opinion of the officials on the side who supported the tax adjustment, led by Li Zheng and Guan Yue, was that after several years of recuperation in the Guanzhong area, the contradiction of more people and less land had begun to emerge because of the large influx of people from other places.

In this case, if the tax is not adjusted, the contradiction between people and land in Guanzhong will become bigger and bigger, which will eventually lead to turmoil and chaos. On the contrary to Guanzhong, Hexi, Yunzhong, Nanjun and other places located in the border areas should continue to implement the policy of low taxes and tax reductions, encourage people to emigrate there, reclaim wasteland, and develop the economy.

At the beginning, Li Yuan's low-tax policy in the Yongqi area had already proved its superiority, and now to overthrow it is bound to make a considerable number of people feel that the state has no faith in its words, which may then lead to turmoil in the country.

Compared with Li Zheng and Guan Yue, who clearly put forward reforms, the voices of the opposing officials were more vague, and not a single central official dared to stand up and clearly express his opposition.

Raising taxes, for the wealthy families who own land, is to reduce their own income, which they do not want to see. Most of the grassroots officials come from large landlords with vested interests, and even a small number of well-known commoners have transformed into spokesmen for the big landlord class after becoming the head of a county.

After returning to Chang'an in victory, Li Yuan took a short rest, listened to and inspected the operation of various ministries, and before making a decision on whether to tax exemption and tax increase, Li Yuan decided to go to the Zhengguoqu irrigation area after the re-expansion of the area, and the area around Zhengguoqu was an important grain-producing area in Guanzhong, and the real situation here was an important basis for determining the direction of Qin's national policy.

――。

The plan of the year lies in the spring.

In Guanzhong in March, when Li Yuan's car arrived at the foot of Qishan Mountain, west of Zhengguo Canal, farmers here were opening ditches in the fields to let the water that had accumulated for the winter flow around the ravines at the edge of the fields.

After several years of trial planting, the number of acres planted with wheat has surpassed that of millet millet and accounted for more than two-thirds of Guanzhong's grain output, and the adaptability of this cold-tolerant and high-yield plant is also much stronger than that of millet millet.

"Hey, hey, hey!"

A trumpet came from not far away, and Li Yuan got out of the car, and walked towards the peasants who were digging a branch canal, accompanied by Nongsang Ling Zhang Cheng.

"Are the fathers and filial piety here?" Zhang Cheng stepped forward and asked.

"Which one is looking for me?" Among the peasants with rolled trouser legs, there stood a man with a dark face, looking at his appearance, he was no different from the ordinary peasants around, but he didn't expect it to be the filial piety and father of this township pavilion below Qishan County.

"This is-, it's a big businessman from Shu County, I have something to ask, I don't know if I can take a step to speak!" Zhang Cheng was stunned for a moment, and only remembered halfway through the sentence that Li Yuan had earlier instructed not to reveal his identity, and this time in the township, among Li Yuan's entourage, in addition to Zhang Yin, only Gan Yong and a team of protective generals accompanied him in civilian clothes.

"Shu County, there is a good place to produce grain, much stronger than Guanzhong, what, do big businessmen want to collect grain or sell grain, the price of grain in Guanzhong is a price for a few days, more and more expensive, if you collect grain, it is not cost-effective, if you sell grain, you will make money." The man sneered and said.

Li Yuan's face moved, he approached this group of peasants, and called Gan Yong and others to help dig a ravine.

However, he did it seriously.

A person's energy does not guarantee that he can be perfect in everything, Li Yuan's performance on the battlefield is amazing enough, and in agricultural affairs, he needs to listen to the voices of different classes.

"Guanzhong had a bumper harvest of grain last year, how can there be a rise in grain prices?" Li Yuan asked.

"Bumper harvest, this grain is stored in the large households' cantonments, the people's families do not have much surplus grain, now, the imperial court said to increase taxes, adopt the policy of ten taxes and one tax, the taxes of large households are not passed on to our small households, landless tenants who can only rent, this grain price is not rising." The unknown man replied coldly, ignored Li Yuan and the others, and continued to work with a group of peasants.

Zhang was about to ask again, Li Yuan waved his hand to stop him, this man obviously didn't want to say anything, just a few words, it was all the information he could give.

When the news of Qin's increase in taxes in Guanzhong came out, the wealthy families could not sit still, and they began to hoard grain, raise the price of grain, and use this as a threat to try to force the imperial court to abandon the policy of raising taxes.

With the development of the economy, the momentum of land annexation in Guanzhong has begun to emerge again, which is an inevitable development trajectory in the development process of an agrarian country.

The peasants revolted, the original power class was broken, the land resources were redistributed, and then the big families were merged, the small households were scattered, and then a new cycle followed.

The emerging state of Qin.

Whether or not such a cycle can be avoided and the country can embark on a different path of development is the biggest problem facing Li Yuan.

Late April.

After a series of private visits to the wealthy counties in Guanzhong, Li Yuan convened an important meeting of internal affairs officials and began to adjust the policies on agriculture and mulberry and the people. The increase in the tax adjustment was passed at this meeting, and it was accompanied by another policy that had a profound impact on Qin's internal affairs.

After careful consideration, Li Yuan decided to adopt the policy of managing the people who must open an account and pay taxes on their own after the men start a family, which is similar to the measure of pushing the grace order, the difficulty of the formation of the big clan will be greatly increased, and those who are dependent on the wings of the big clan to survive will also lose the protection of the family, and have to support themselves and rely on their own ability to support themselves. (To be continued......)