Having got these Mongols, it was already winter when Zilharang hurried back to Russia. There's no way, the traffic in these years is like this, basically by walking.

It's winter again, and the days of Daming are still prosperous. This year, Jiangnan, Henan, Lianghuai, and Guanzhong have rare wind and rain, no disease and no disaster, and the wheat ears in the rice fields are heavy.

In the yellow field, the peasants are happily waving their sickles.

Tired! But it is happy to be tired, and the harvest can always make people happy. Especially now that the grain is not handed over to the landlords!

In previous years, when the harvest was good, the rent of the landlord's house also increased. Whether it is a good year or a disaster year, it is always difficult for tenants to make a round belly.

In a year, half thin and half dry to deal with. When the greens are scarce, wild vegetables become a must-have meal on the table.

Now, you only need to pay 30% of the harvest to the government. The rest of the grain was all received in his own tun, and with this grain for a year, he would not have to worry about chewing.

"Old man, this year is a bumper harvest." Li Xiao happily looked at the farmers who were harvesting, and saw an old man sitting on the edge of the rice field, and sat down with him.

"Huh! A bumper harvest. The old man suddenly sighed loudly.

"What? Not happy about the harvest? Li Xiao looked at the old man very strangely.

"Humph! There is a lot of food, but the government asks for more rent. It is more than twice as high as in previous years, but the grain in the field cannot be doubled.

The old man's family has to pay sixty percent of the grain, and they all say that without the landlords, we can live a good life. But damn it, where are these good days?

The landlord is gone, but the government collects it more ruthlessly than the landlord. The old man held his breath and poured a mouthful of water. Wiping a handful of water stains from his mouth, he picked up the scythe and walked into the ground.

Li Xiao looked at the old man's back, and a big pimple condensed on his brows.

"Let's go ahead and have a look." Li Xiao commanded, and Junzi hurriedly followed.

I sympathize with the magistrate here, this time it is considered to have hit the muzzle of the gun, this handsome man is easy to provoke, and if he can't get it right, he is really a killer.

Shi Kefa, who was popular, just smiled and didn't speak, Jiangnan was the most familiar to him. This time Li Xiao toured south, he naturally wanted to follow.

In the village ahead, the harvest was early, and the farmers were queuing up to pay their taxes. A load of grain filled the grain bucket, and the servant who had just filled it with tax kicked on it.

"Hulala" grain was scattered all over the ground, and the servant squinted at the old peasant.

The old farmer had no choice but to open his pocket and continue to fill the bucket with grain until it was full.

After filling it, he also stuffed a small bag of copper coins for the tax officer.

Sweeping the copper coin, the tax officer snorted in his nose. Scrape on the bucket with a scraper: "Next!" ”

Li Xiao gritted his teeth, this is the only way to be corrupt in taxation.

This kick is more and less, which is the income of the tax officials and the servants this year. It seems that this old guy knows more about things, and takes the initiative to give some bribes to avoid being cheated and take away more food.

When the Zhu family was the emperor, this was the only way for the low-level tax officials in the officialdom to be corrupt. Unexpectedly, today, Li Xiao actually saw it with his own eyes. I don't know if I don't look at it, but this one is really ...... It's damn shocking.

"Huh!" Shi Kefa saw Li Xiao's brows furrowed again, and he let out a faint "hehe" twice.

"I remember that the state only collects 30% of the tax, but if you look at it like this, it collects 70% of the tax. How can ordinary people live?

If this continues, the common people will rise up and rebel. Li Xiao grinded his teeth while being lucky.

"Huh! This is an old rule, and it has been there since the year when Hong Wuye was beaten. This kick is called kicking towards the sky, and kicking more and kicking less is the harvest of the officials this year.

It's been more than 200 years, and you can change it if you say you can change it? ”

"Hebei, Shandong, Liaodong, and Henan have all changed." Li Xiao said hatefully.

"The officials in those places are either transferred from the Liao army or graduated from the school you run. But you see, these people are all tax collectors during the Apocalypse Chongzhen. Do you expect them not to be greedy?

More than 200 years of accumulated habits are not something you can solve in a day. I know you're going to kill them all, but are there really so many people in your carry? Besides, most of the people you have cultivated are northerners, and they are really willing to come to the south to be officials? ”

"Uh......!" Li Xiao had nothing to say, and most of the Liao army were from Liaodong. Later, with the addition of Shandong and Hebei people, there were basically no other places.

After these people changed jobs, they naturally became officials in Liaodong, Shandong, and Hebei.

And the places where Li Xiao's education has done well are also in the northern region. Especially in Shandong, Hebei, Beijing and Liaodong, students who graduated from these places naturally have to fall into their hometowns. No one wants to come to the south to work for work.

Speaking of Jiangnan, it is a beautiful place, but who knows that compared with the north today, Jiangnan is simply two worlds.

Shandong, Liaodong, Beijing, Hebei, many places have been connected to electricity. In big cities like Beijing, Jinzhou, Tianjin, and Jinan, there are even street lights on the streets.

But what is there in Jiangnan, there are still candles everywhere at night. Many people still have oil lamps at home, and they are smoked by soot every day, so ghosts are willing to stay in such a place.

Therefore, even if you come to Jinling on an errand now, it is regarded as a distribution. On the contrary, the officials in the south are all trying to find a way to transfer to the north.

There is no good way, and the quality of the living environment has always been an important condition for people to migrate.

"Don't you care?" Li Xiao watched these tax collectors grind their teeth.

"Tube! Of course, you can skin them and fill them with grass and hang them in the yamen. It's called peeling the skin! The method of punishing corrupt officials during the Hongwu period is said to be very deterrent. Shi Kefa looked at Li Xiao with a grin.

"What's so bad you're holding back?" Li Xiao looked at Shi Kefa suspiciously.

This guy is a little less cunning than Sun Chengzong and Zhang Huangyan, but he is also an old fox who has cultivated to perfection.

"Hong Wuye is wise and martial, and uses the method of peeling the skin and grass to punish corrupt officials. But at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, corrupt officials were still frequent, which shows that torture cannot deter people. If you want to eradicate corruption, you have to rely on people to enforce it. ”

"But where did I get so many people?" Li Xiao had no choice, and several northern provinces basically used up all the people he had brought with him. If you draw people from the army, you will move the foundation of the army. Not only Ao Ye couldn't bear it, but even Li Xiao couldn't bear it.

Because the Liao army is his foundation!

"Then there is no way, you killed a few of them today. But there are thousands of such officials in the entire Jiangnan, and you have killed them all? Or do you go from village to village? ”