"You were kind and then someone was remembered?"

This is indeed the case, and Ruda's heart is definitely not bad. Of course, as a man with strongman tendencies, he is not much better. But when he does good deeds, he must not have any utilitarian thoughts.

Just like before, because he pity the separation of mother and daughter, he gave a silver ingot in a more obscure way.

If Li Kui and the others didn't delay in Longzhou and went directly to Youzhou, where the city was bigger, there would naturally be nothing. But the moment they meet the greedy tax collector, it seems that things get complicated.

Ten taels of silver?

Is that a lot of money?

Li Kui doesn't think so, but at the same time, he also knows that what doesn't matter to him may be a lifesaver for ordinary people. He looked up at Li Bingqian and asked, "How dare the tax collectors of Western Xia be so lawless?" ”

"Alas, it can't be!"

Li Bingqian felt that things were a bit ridiculous, but the problem was that he was a prince, even if he was lurking as a merchant in the Great Song Dynasty, once he returned to Western Xia, he would be able to enjoy the benefits of privilege.

He didn't even need to show his identity as the prince, as long as he took out the token of the palace, he could be unimpeded in the territory of Western Xia.

Taxman, a small person who is not in the stream, was said to have humiliated him, and he didn't even have a chance to slap him up.

Seeing Li Bingqian's confused appearance, Li Kui knew that this person couldn't give him an answer. So he raised his hand and said to Ren Tahiko, who said, "This situation is a bit special. ”

"What kind of special law?"

Li Kui said curiously, it's just a tax ding, and he has never seen it in the Great Song Dynasty. Basically, the tax collectors of the Great Song Dynasty turned their heads and fled when they saw him, anyway, in Li Kui's opinion, the tax collectors were similar to the domestic dogs, or the kind of dogs raised by small households.

Unexpectedly, the tax collector of Western Xia was still refined, and he dared to beat his idea.

Li Kui didn't have the idea of going abroad and being a low-headed man. He, like the Master, is a consistent person, and the Master didn't say that my way is consistent, and that's what it means. We just have a straightforward personality and like to go straight.

Even if Li Kui arrived in Western Xia, he was still the boy who crisscrossed the mountains and forests in Baizhang Village, and he didn't change at all.

Ren Duoyan's face was embarrassed, this was a stain on Western Xia, if Li Bingqian was not present, he would have said it happily. Because of such dirty things, the Renduo tribe is also doing it. Fortunately, Li Bingqian also wanted to know, and urged: "Ren Duoyan, if you have something to say, just say it." ”

"My lord, my lord, the tax Ding in Western Xia is not the same as the tax Ding in the Great Song Dynasty. The tax collectors of the Great Song Dynasty are more like conscription, the dispatch in the yamen, the six classes of subordinates, each performing their duties, even if it is arrogant, there is a limit. But Western Xia is different, although the official government of Western Xia is similar to that of the Great Song Dynasty, but there is also a powerful person above the official government in Western Xia, that is, the tribe. In fact, many of the taxes levied by the Western Xia were paid to the tribes, not to the government. "Ren Duoyan naturally knows this process, and the tribe of Western Xia is very strong. Especially at the beginning, Li Yuanhao gave too many privileges in order to gain the support of the party and tribal leaders.

Tax collection is one of them.

In Western Xia, the tribe is the soil emperor, although the political system of Western Xia is the Song Dynasty, but in fact, except for the Privy Council of Western Xia, which is still a little useful, other official offices are pretending. Locally, it's the tribe that has the final say.

Ruda looked at Ren Duoyan's eyes very unkindly, and asked, "Your family is also a tribal leader, so you must do the same, right?" ”

Ren Duoyan smiled bitterly: "Ruda, my family's tribe is all tribal people, and on the grassland, it is not possible to do it for long by oppressing the leader of the tribe members. ”

"Why is Longzhou like this now?" Ruda didn't believe it.

"The main reason is that there are more Han people in Longzhou, and it is impossible for the tribe to treat the Han people as clansmen. The tax supervisors will only obey the chief, and the amount of tax they need to pay each year depends on the situation of the tribe. Last year, the army here in Longzhou was conscripted to Yan'an Prefecture, and as you know, the result was defeated. Tribal leaders need to maintain their rule by collecting the wealth of the people. There is no way to be cruel to the people. ”

"As for your case, it's probably the tax collector's own initiative. This is also the difficulty of the Song merchants in Western Xia, many merchants have no backers, but they have a lot of wealth and are targeted by the tribe. ”

While talking, Lu Qian, who went out to inquire about the news, pushed the door in, and didn't come to remember to drink saliva to moisten his throat, so he said in a hoarse voice: "Luda, it's all clear, there's a big mess with the silver you gave." I didn't know that the cattle and sheep in Western Xia were so cheap, and ten taels of silver could buy four or five cattle. The money you give out is enough for a poor family to support itself. ”

"What about the woman?"

"What woman?"

Lu Qian was obviously pretending to be stupid at this time, he was different from a reckless man like Luda, he was afraid that Luda would make trouble, and he didn't want to tell Luda the truth.

Luda was so angry that he wanted to get Lu Qian's clothes, but when he saw Li Kui staring at him, he was immediately alert and sneered: "My lord, I just want to be close to Brother Lu!" ”

Lu Qian's heart has long been scolded, who is close to someone and will take someone's clothes?

He is not as good as Luda in terms of merit, not as good as Luda in terms of official position, and not as good as Luda in force...... To sum up, he is weaker than Ruda, but there is no reason why he has to be bullied if he is weak, right?

Li Kuinu said: "Speaking of the situation, after all, we have to go out of the city, we can't be Wanted, we won't go out of the city, right?" ”

"The woman was driven insane, and her daughter seemed to be dead. And the money that Ruda gave to the woman was robbed. And Luda was also targeted by the tax collector in the city, this person is a slippery leader of the Fang Dang clan, called He Ba, who is greedy by nature, and he undertakes the taxes in Longzhou City. ”

"Wait. I know that the leader of the slip probably belongs to the official position of a thousand commanders in Western Xia. Li Kui, who had interrogated many Western Xia prisoners of war, also had an understanding of the official positions of Western Xia. Although the Western Xia almost copied the official positions of the Song Dynasty, the strange thing is that almost none of the party members recognized these official positions and liked to use the official positions of the tribe. Li Kui interrupted: "What is it called! ”

"Undertaking is that the big chief sets the annual amount of Longzhou's taxes, and then lets the small leaders at the bottom replace the big leaders to levy taxes, and as long as they pay the prescribed tax amount every year, they can pocket the excess income themselves, which is called undertaking." Nitohiko explained.

Li Kui suddenly yearned, this is a good policy! Even the tax yamen can be contracted, and it is difficult not to get rich!

Li Bingqian added: "As long as it is because the scale of the cities in Western Xia is not large, only a few large cities are controlled by the royal family. Moreover, the wealth of the tribal leaders did not depend on taxes, but mainly on pastures, estates, and workshops. To undertake the taxes of the state city, the most is to collect the poll tax at the city gate. ”

Li Bingqian felt a little embarrassed, Xixia learned the Great Song Dynasty everywhere, but from the system, he definitely learned to split, which made the Li family play badly.

"What level of tribe does the Fangdang tribe belong to in Western Xia, why haven't you heard of it?" Li Kui asked.

It is impossible for Li Bingqian to answer this question, so he can only say it, as for why Li Bingqian can't say it, because it is related to the dirty affairs of the imperial family, he has no face to say.

Ren Duoyan was a little sympathetic and said: "When this tribe was established in Western Xia, it was as powerful as the Yeli tribe. ”

"Impossible, the Yeli tribe is also very strong now, I heard that there are 100,000 tents, more than 400,000 tribesmen. Since this Fangdang tribe is as powerful as the Yeli tribe, why have you never heard of people from this tribe all these years? ”

Li Kui is still in the process of knowing little about Western Xia, but Luda, who was born in the northwest, knows a lot.

"This has to ask our Seventh Prince, this is a good thing done by his family." Ren Duoyan complained a lot, and looked at Li Bingqian with a gun and a stick.

Li Bingqian opened his mouth in embarrassment, as if something was blocked in his throat, and after a long time, he smiled awkwardly: "It is not easy to establish a country in Western Xia, not only to fight with the Song State, but also to fight with the powerful Liao State. Fighting on two fronts, natural losses are huge. Although several major tribes were powerful at the beginning of the establishment of the Western Xia state, they paid a huge price for defending the Western Xia. I know a little bit about the situation of the Fangdang tribe, after the death of the previous tribal leader Fang Dangkui, the descendants are really incapable, and this is defeated. Now there are only four copies, which is equivalent to only four slip leaders, and the main strength is near Longzhou. ”

"Seventh Prince, are you sorry to say this? Can't you talk about the reason for the weakening of the tribe? ”

"Why are you sorry, in order to protect the interests of the tribe, the lord of the country has to go to war, and the loss of the Fangdang tribe is greater. But these losses were all meaningful to the Western Xia Kingdom. ”

"Phew. I heard that the old leader of Fang Dang had to hand over the grassland fiefdom because he needed to compensate for the tens of thousands of war horses in the royal pasture, so he was angry to death, you are the prince of the Tuoba tribe, so you naturally say good things to your tribe. The Li family is based on this virtue, under the guise of surviving for the Western Xia, but they are doing the truth of eliminating the strength of the tribe, which is a good calculation of 'fighting outside and first securing inside'. Li Kui knew that it was the famous minister Zhao Pu who said it to Zhao Kuangyi. Ren Duoyan can still tell this allusion when he is quarrelling, which makes Li Kui look at him with admiration.

"The royal family gave all the fiefs to the tribe, although they left the horse farm, but the tribe can't accept the benefits of the royal family, and they don't want to contribute to Western Xia, right?"

"That's a nice thing to say. Fertile pastures, fertile farms, all good places are occupied by your royal family, and you know what is left to our tribe. And we all need to prepare our own food in the war, and the warriors of the tribe who die in the war also need to be compensated by the tribe, but what about your royal family? After returning, borrowing the war horse from the royal horse farm, as long as one of the war horses dies in battle, your royal family only knows how shameless it is to ask the tribe for compensation with a shy face! ”

"Ren Duoyan, you have already betrayed Great Xia, and you dare to say that you are a member of the party, I, you traitor."

"You also wrote a secret letter for a day, and you are also a traitor, a traitor to the Tuoba tribe."

……

Nitohiko has a long-standing resentment against the royal family, and it is also the tribe's long-standing dissatisfaction with the royal family. The good means used by the Western Xia royal family was to constantly weaken the strength of the tribe through war, so as to achieve the goal of royal rule.

Of course, there were also mistakes, and the Yeli tribe grew rapidly.

During the original Renzong period, most of the eight major tribes of the Western Xia Kingdom had already existed in name only, and the Fangdang tribe was just one of them.

"My lord, why are the two of them arguing?"

It's a bit unconscionable that Ruda finds himself transformed from a protagonist to a supporting character and then completely forgotten. Although Li Kui understood the contradiction between the tribe and the royal family, the old tribe decayed, and the new tribe would rise. This is the control method of the Western Xia royal family, and it is also the foundation for the Li family to be able to rule the Western Xia, if the tribe is allowed to develop unlimitedly, the last damage can only be the imperial family.

This is a contradiction between the tribe and the royal family, and Li Kui, an outsider, can't control it.

However, he at least knew about the garrison in Longzhou. According to Ren Duoyan, the garrison army in Longzhou was about 4,000 people, but the situation in Western Xia was very special. The Western Xia army had regular soldiers, auxiliary soldiers, and servant soldiers. After the war, only the regular soldiers were not disbanded, and the other soldiers were disbanded after the end of the war.

Longzhou's defense force is four copies, and if it is full, there should only be about 500 regular soldiers, because the Fangdang tribe has suffered great losses, and the copy of 120 regular soldiers must not be able to sustain itself, and half of them are already very good. Therefore, the real army in the city was only about 200 people.

With just such a few people, there are still two city gates to guard, how many soldiers and horses can be mobilized in this city?

Li Kui simply said to Lu Qian: "Do you know where the Xixia military camp is?" ”

"My lord, there is no one in the barracks!" There are so few people in Longzhou, Lu Qian has a thorough understanding of the situation in the city, and he thought that Li Kui asked this to attack the military camp.

But Li Kui didn't mean this at all, and said to Lu Qian: "Luda's wanted is just an accident, but Longzhou City is empty, it is obviously an opportunity, there is no one in the barracks, as long as the treasury is burned, the soldiers in Longzhou City will naturally gather towards the barracks." When the time comes, we will kill these people while we are at ease. Then open a warehouse and put grain. Many of the people in the city are Han Chinese, who have been oppressed by the tribe for many years, if there is no resentment, if there is resentment, as long as they follow it, it will be beneficial, and they will definitely follow. ”

"My lord, isn't Li Bingqian the prince of Western Xia? He must have a token or something, as long as we borrow it, it will definitely be unimpeded. Compared with Li Kui, Lu Qian is a cautious person, and he is more worried that because his identity is exposed, it will cause the encirclement and suppression of the Western Xia court. There are only a few of them, although they are all the elite of the elite.

But if he is really surrounded and suppressed by a large army, he will definitely die.

Luda angrily pressed Lu Qian's shoulder and said angrily: "Lu Qian, how can you be so bold? You also heard it just now, the party members don't dare to bully their own people, but they make us Han people angry, if this tone is not out, how can adults be happy? ”

Luda, this kid is also wilted, not to say that he can't get through his thoughts in this breath, but he says that Li Kui can't breathe this breath, and he is uncomfortable.

Li Kui thought simply, these people will not make trouble in Longzhou in the future, but will go to Heishui City, or even to Xingqing Mansion, this is the Longtan Tiger's Lair. If you are afraid in Longzhou, how can you achieve great things?

Thinking of this, Li Kui immediately decided: "Okay, just rob the rich and help the poor, if even a small place like Longzhou is tied, how can it be done in the future?" ”

Not long after Li Kui gave the order, the granary in Longzhou City caught fire, and the smoke stretched into the sky like a totem pole in the air.

Even Ren Duoyan and Li Bingqian didn't quarrel anymore, they looked at the smoke not far away in a daze, and subconsciously thought: "It's on fire?" ”