As soon as the king arrived, he feasted on the local clans, and as soon as the news spread, no one thought it was good news.

There are not many local wealthy families in Nanyang, the Liu family was once the emperor of the Han Dynasty, the Li family and the Cen family are also the surnames of the wealthy family, and the Han family was also an important minister in the court, and in recent decades, the Zhang family is undoubtedly the largest and most prominent family in Nanyang.

Zhang Yi, the word Guanzhang, is a native of Nanyang, Dengzhou. The grandson of Zhang Zhengfu, the secretary of the Ministry of Shangshu and the Taishi of the Taishi, the judge of the household department of Shi Brown Bianzhou, entered the Lantian Lieutenant and Jixian School Administrator, and relocated to the Hanlin Bachelor and the Zhongshu Sheren. From the land of Xingshu, worship the squire of the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Punishment and the Ministry of War. Li Ye returned to Beijing, visited the Ministry of Rites, Taichangqing, served as a ceremonial envoy, and moved the troops to the Shangshu.

Such a person, his family is a wealthy family walking sideways in Nanyang.

Zhou Kuan sent out invitations on the first day, and the next afternoon, he invited the Nanyang clan in the palace.

Zhou Kuan, Gao Shi, Li Huaixian, and Wang Qian accompanied.

This time, all families came to represent, and the Zhang family was no exception.

After all, Li Yu is the king of De, and Nanyang is his fief. These big clans are all in other people's fiefdoms and have to give face.

"His Royal Highness King De has arrived!"

The guards sang loudly at the door of the banquet hall.

Everyone in the banquet hall stood up to greet them under the leadership of Zhou Kuan and others.

Li Yu appeared at the door of the banquet hall in civilian clothes.

"Hehe, all the squire fathers, welcome to the palace!"

Li Yu greeted everyone with a smile.

"Thank you, Your Highness, for a banquet! I wish Your Highness all the best wishes. ”

Led by the Zhang family, everyone shouted in unison.

"Hehe, everyone, please take a seat!"

Soon, the kitchen began to serve food.

There are four plates on the table, which are all greens, with little oil and salt, that is, boiled vegetables in water.

All the squires stared wide-eyed, not understanding what was going on? Are the kings so poor?

"Come, come, everyone, today this king has shown all his sincerity, share it with everyone, don't dislike it, come, eat food and drink."

Some waiters poured bad food on the countryside, and a pungent smell made these big clan parents frown.

King De, you're too shabby, aren't you?

Seeing everyone's embarrassed expressions, they looked a little disgusted.

Li Yu coughed.

"Ahem, all the fathers, it's Yu incompetent."

He let out a long sigh and put down his glass.

"I just arrived in Nanyang, I am poor and white, but I have to meet with all the fathers and elders, so I can only reluctantly make it difficult to get some food, don't be surprised."

He said it so frankly, but it made these big families feel uncomfortable.

King De moved to the domain, and as a squire of the domain, he had to express it, right? Don't you see King De crying poorly!

"Hehe, Your Highness's hospitality, I am grateful, I will go to the banquet today, prepare a little courtesy, please smile."

Zhang Weng, the elder of the Zhang family, got up tremblingly and said to Li Yushen.

"Oops, Zhang Weng. You are mistaken. ”

Li Yu walked over with a smile, helped Zhang Weng up, looked at the other squires and said: "No matter how difficult and bitter Yu is, there is still food to eat, but the people of Nanyang will run out of food in more than a month!" Alas! Seeing the people of the fiefdom suffering, how can I bear it in my heart! ”

As he spoke, Li Yu's eyes turned red.

"Ahem, Your Highness, as long as all the fathers and elders stretch out their hands, I believe that this difficulty will be overcome."

Zhou Kuan hurriedly got up and beat the side drum.

As soon as the monarchs and ministers sang and harmonized, they stumped Zhang Weng, who was neither standing nor sitting.

Of these big households here today, at least they have 100 tilts of fertile land, and the Zhang family's good water irrigates as many as 700 dumps, which family doesn't have tens of thousands of stones of grain in stock? !

Not only that, but each of them has more or less hidden households.

In order not to pay taxes or to pay less taxes, many small landlords took the initiative to assign their land to the names of these large households, and they became hidden households, and when the government checked their household registration again, their names were gone.

In fact, they were all sheltered by these big families, and these lands became big households, and they became tenants, no longer bearing the taxes of the government, but only paying land rent to the big families.

Now the rent of these tenants is getting heavier and heavier, and some of them have reached a ratio of 37.

Seventy percent of the land rent is not enough to eat in a good year, let alone a disaster year.

"This ......"

Which of the wealthy families present is not an old fox, who can't see that this is King De hinting?!

But no one answered the conversation.

Who wants to spit out this fat meat that has eaten into their mouths?

These people regard land as their lifeblood, and without land, how can they continue to be big households, and how can they have good food and clothing?!

"Zhang Weng, you are the leader of Nanyang Township, and this matter of assisting the palace to tide over the difficulties of the people is afraid that it will fall on your old head!"

Li Yu looked at Zhang Weng with a smile.

The old man's hands and feet trembled, looked at Li Yu, and then looked at the squire who bowed his head and was silent, and slowly sat down.

"Your Highness! In the past few years, Nanyang has been plagued by wars, and those of us who live here can only barely make ends meet. ”

The old man closed his eyes and stopped talking.

There was silence.

These people left Li Yu hanging on the spot.

Seeing this, Zhou Kuan hurriedly gave Gao Shi and the others a look, meaning to hurry up and find a way.

Wang Qian stroked his beard and said slowly: "Since Nanyang is the fief of King De, he has established a pro-kingdom, and His Royal Highness should be able to set his own taxes to alleviate the local disaster." ”

In the name of disaster relief, you can collect taxes as much as you want.

Li Yu heard it, yes.

"Ahem. Since Zhang Weng and other fathers and elders have their own difficulties, the king is not reluctant. ”

Li Yu returned to his seat with a smile.

"Zhou Changshi, the existing fields in Nanyang this month, whether public or private, are all re-measured, just collect them according to ten taxes, and we can't make it difficult for you."

As soon as these words came out, the banquet hall exploded in an instant.

"What? Want to collect our taxes? ”

"Pay ten taxes and one?"

"No, absolutely not."

If this policy is implemented, it will not be a one-time transaction, but it will have to be paid every year! Isn't this eating their flesh and drinking their blood?

Although these people were chattering below, Li Yu pretended not to hear, took a sip of vegetable soup, and got up to leave.

Zhou Kuan accompanied these people to socialize, and this banquet broke up unhappily.

In the hall of Zhang's mansion, more than a dozen representatives of wealthy families who had just gone to the banquet were gossiping at Zhang Weng.

"Zhang Weng, you can't pay this tax!"

"Yes. Mine is a good paddy field, which produces tens of thousands of stone of rice every year, so don't you have to give him 1,000 stone? A thousand stones! ”

The speaker gritted his teeth as if his heart and liver had been gouged out, and tears were in his eyes.

"So what? Do you still want to rebel? ”

The scene fell silent all of a sudden.

Someone muttered something.

"What did you say?"

The old man blew his beard and glared.

"I said that it is not impossible to vote for Zhu Quanzhong."

"You fool!"

"That's it! Didn't I work with them in the first two years, and they still wanted less?! ”

"That's it, I think it's better to give some gifts!"

"Alas, it's not okay if you don't let some blood go!"

Two days later, Zhang Weng came to Nanyang Mansion, found Zhou Kuan, and took out a gift list.

"Changshi, you have been in Nanyang for a few years, and you are very familiar with things here. This is all of us doing it, you see the tax ......."

Zhou Kuan took the list and swept it over, and it turned out to be 5,000 stones of corn, 5,000 stones of rice, 5,000 pieces of copper coins, and 500 horses of silk.

"This ...... Zhang Weng, it's not that I, Zhou Kuan, don't talk about human feelings, the will of His Royal Highness King De, we as ministers have to carry it out. ”

He looked at this white-haired old man, don't look at the kind eyebrows, but he has more ideas than anyone else in his heart.

Dozens of you guys want to send us away with this little thing?

"That'...... Perimeter history, you mean ......"

"I think it's too light."

"Huh? Then I'll go back and talk to them about it. ”

When the old man came back, the number in the gift list doubled.

10,000 stones of corn, 10,000 stones of rice, 10,000 pieces of copper coins, and 1,000 horses of silk.

Zhou Kuan accepted the gift with a smile and stored it in the warehouse.

Then he pulled Zhang Weng and said: "Zhang Weng, I can only persuade King De to adjust the proportion, but the tax still has to be collected." ”

The old man's face fell, he snorted, turned and left.

"Haha, good! Then adjust it to twenty taxes and one, little by little, not afraid that they will not pay taxes. ”

"Your Highness is clever!"

"You remember, as soon as the grain in Xiangyang arrives, the tax order for ripe fields and the reclamation order will be issued together, and when the time comes, I see if they are in a hurry!"

The corners of Zhou Kuan's mouth twitched, His Highness was ruthless enough!

That's what the bottom of the pot is all about.