The three of them stopped and stopped all the way, and finally came to the capital on this day.

Fan Lixin didn't take a break, and directly led Gu Shengchao and Wan Ruo into the palace to find the emperor.

Gu Shengchao has been to the palace, that night he entered the palace alone from the waterway, from the back garden all the way to the front hall, this time from the front into the palace, and came to the Ask Pavilion to see the holy car. At this moment, it was past the time of the early dynasty, and the emperor was alone in the Inquiry Pavilion to deal with official business.

After a few people gave gifts, the emperor gave him a seat, and he went straight to the point and said: "At present, the imperial court is the time to employ people, and the top priority is to find out that the palace of King Wu occupies more acres of land, one to replenish the treasury, and the other to suppress their arrogance. In recent years, the Martial King Palace has long been a strong outsider, and I discovered this problem last time I was alone in danger, as long as we are not intimidated by their superficial toughness, their arrogance will definitely not last. ”

Gu Shengchao didn't know anything, and asked: "Our Dawu Dynasty's tax revenue is mainly Ding Fu, and the population is large, and the taxes are naturally more, so it seems that taking stock of the actual cultivated land does not have much impact on the farmers, and it is the interests of the eunuchs and the big sects that are offended, forcing them to have no way back, and some of the gains outweigh the losses." ”

"You only know one thing, but you don't know the other." The emperor muttered: "The eunuch's house occupies a lot of fertile land, but the reported population is small, and the taxes are naturally pitiful. A large number of poor peasants have lost their arable land, but they have to pay taxes far more than they actually do, and the result is that the rich will always be rich and the poor will always be poor. The poor will definitely rebel if they have no way to live, and the rich will take advantage of the fire to rob if they don't help, forcing the poor to rebel even more, and finally the rich will earn the last copper coin of the poor, and they don't have to bear any responsibility, and the court is also so poor that they have to bear all the consequences, what do you say? ”

Gu Shengchao was speechless, yes, government inaction is the most common, people usually blame those rebels and condemn the turmoil caused by their raids and robberies, but how to avoid it is often overlooked. It is normal to stand on the moral high ground afterwards and talk nonsense, but no one cares about the precautions in advance or does not consider this aspect at all, everyone only thinks about how to get rich, but the consequences are never considered.

The emperor got up and paced a few steps in the house and said: "It is the easiest thing to let the poor people eat and not make trouble, as long as they are allowed to pay less money for a variety of land, where does the cultivated land come from, only from the Wuwang Palace, which occupies the most fertile land, they are honest, and the rest will be self-defeating, and all of them will obediently hand over the more land." ”

"I am going to abolish the poll tax and replace it with a farmland tax, so that whoever has more land will pay more taxes, and those with less land or no land will not have to pay taxes, so that the burden on the poor will be reduced and there will be no harm to the imperial court. Therefore, how much arable land and farmland the entire dynasty has become the top priority, and it must be clarified, otherwise we can only give up halfway, let those who are rich and unkind to the people be deceived and concealed, and the rich individuals will lose the court and the people. The Emperor finally spoke what was in his heart.

Gu Shengchao and the others were shocked when they heard it, and it was the best solution to think about it carefully.

"The Holy Lord directly ordered, what should we do?" Gu Shengchao understood the cause and effect and asked for an errand.

The emperor slapped his hand on the table and said excitedly: "Just waiting for your words, I plan to appoint you as the Shaoqing of Sinong Temple, who is responsible for the measurement and statistics of all cultivated fields in the Dawu Dynasty. ”

"Yes." The ancient saint was commanded.

Everything is difficult at the beginning, Gu Shengchao received his official uniform and tooth card, but he couldn't find a subordinate who was willing to help, so he couldn't do it alone.

Now there is no new Shangshu in the household department, each department has its own policy, Gu Shengchao is specially appointed by the emperor, everyone is watching, and they are not clear about the stakes, lest they get into trouble.

Fortunately, no matter what Gu Shengchao did, no one cared, and after more than ten days of deletion, he finally gathered a team of more than ten people and was able to reluctantly carry out his work. There are only two of these more than ten people who have positions, one Si Cheng named Jin Anchun, and one pawn named Jiang Yongtuo.

Gu Shengchao was unfamiliar with the place, and he took the atlas and flipped through it every day, but he still didn't know where to start, and he didn't know where to start.

On this day, Gu Shengchao spread the atlas drawn by his predecessor on the table and compared it with the statistical data document in his hand. Sicheng Jin Anchun came in to report his work, he stood next to him and saw Gu Shengchao uncertain, and pointed to a county town next to the capital on the atlas and said: "If the adults are undecided, if it is not resolved, let's start with Oushui County." ”

"Why?" Gu Shengchao must have made sense when he heard him say this.

Jin Anchun said without thinking: "That's my hometown. ”

Gu Shengchao was surprised for a moment, and when he saw that Jin Anchun didn't say anything more, he immediately realized that there must be something strange in it, but it was just inconvenient for the other party to say it. He closed the atlas and immediately said, "Listen to you, that's it, you tell us to leave tomorrow morning." ”

"Master Xie." Jin Anchun remained silent, but the irrepressible excitement on his face was still revealed.

In the early morning of the second day, a group of people packed up, brought the measuring scooter and rope ruler, the most important thing is to remember the drum cart, the horse pulled the drum cart forward, and the drum was automatically beaten every other mile, so that people could measure the distance in a large area. When there is a doubt, it can be accurately corrected with a scooter and a rope ruler, so as to quickly complete the task of surveying and mapping. Otherwise, it would all be measured manually with a rope ruler, and a small village would not know that the Year of the Monkey could only be completed.

Wan Ruo accompanied him, in order to facilitate travel, he changed into the black clothes he often wears, and he couldn't hide the murderous atmosphere in his dignity.

When the sun came to Oushui County, Gu Shengchao gave the tooth card and the edict to the county order, but the county order was polite, and said respectfully: "Lord Gu came from afar, and the lower officials have lost their welcome, please come here." ”

The county magistrate personally arranged for everyone to live in the inn next to the yamen, and instructed the innkeeper to serve everyone well. The innkeeper always greeted him with a smile in front of the county order, but anyone with a discerning eye could see the insincere wry smile.

Through conversation, I learned that the county order's name was Huang Qinshou.

In the evening, the county commander Huang Qinshou held a banquet in the backyard of the county government to entertain Gu Shengchao. After a while, there were several women below who hugged the piano and plucked it, and a few more graceful women danced, which was pleasing to the eye.

There was a wonderful woman standing next to the wine table where the three of them were sitting, serving tea and pouring wine for the three of them.

Huang Qinshou raised his wine glass and said: "Tonight, a banquet will be held for Lord Gu to catch the wind and wash the dust, and please forgive me for the thin wine and mussels." This is our local group practice, named Cai Ji, Lord Gu came to work with us, and he may be able to use Cai group practice in the future. ”

Cai Ji picked up the wine glass with both hands and said: "The Huangxian Order has been raised, I am just a small group practice, how can a cloth cloth enter the eyes of the ancient adults." ”

Gu Shengchao knew that the other party was polite, and if he could show up on such an occasion, he was definitely a well-known figure in the local area. He clinked glasses and drank with the two of them, and asked, "How many men and horses does Cai Tuanlian have?" ”

Cai Ji pretended to be polite, but in fact boasted: "It's just that some rural villagers know a little bit of boxing and kicking, and there are only about 100 people in total, which is far less than the prestige of Lord Gu." ”

Gu Shengchao secretly weighed himself, he roughly observed during the day, there are no more than fifty people on duty in Oushui County, and one regiment can command hundreds of strong men who know martial arts, which is definitely a force that should not be underestimated.

"Master Gu drinks." Huang Qinshou raised his glass to invite, he lowered his voice and said: "It's not a secret, my county government is understaffed, and if there is a problem with bandits and Diao people gathering to make trouble, I often have to rely on Cai Tuanlian to send people to help, otherwise I can't deal with it at all." ”

After Gu Shengchao drank alcohol, he took a mouthful of food and put it in his mouth to chew slowly, and asked tentatively: "This place is not far from the capital, there are many disciples under the Martial King Palace, and I don't know who the master of Cai Tuanlian is?" ”

Cai Ji immediately came to his senses and said in a loud voice: "The southern envoy of the Wuwang Palace is the mentor below, and he was ordered by the master to teach apprentices here and serve the saddle and horse of the Wuwang Palace. ”

Gu Shengchao immediately understood the problem faced by Oushui County, the county government jurisdiction is insufficient, and it must rely on the power of the Wuwang Palace, which has caused more and more of the decline in the deterrent power of the government, the more dependent on the Wuwang Palace, the Wuwang Palace will gain an inch, and it will be difficult to fill the crastiles, the demand will be intensified, and the days of suffering of the people will increase. Seeing that there was no way to live, the people had to take refuge in the Wuwang Palace to survive, and the credibility of the government was naturally getting lower and lower, and the dependence of the county government on the Wuwang Palace was only increasing, becoming a vicious circle.

Huang Qinshou, the county magistrate, toasted: "Lord Gu doesn't know, the Oushui county order has changed, and it has changed several times until I am, but Cai Tuanlian is different, he has never been absent from the beginning to the end, and every county commander has praised him, which is really rare." It can also be seen from this that Cai Tuanlian has the courage and insight to do things, and works tirelessly to share worries and solve problems for the court. ”

Gu Shengchao looked at Cai Ji and said: "I am in a bit of a hurry on this trip, I am not familiar with the place here, it seems that I am on business in Oushui County, and I have to rely on the prestige of Cai Tuanlian." ”

Cai Ji was a little fluttering, patted his chest and promised: "Lord Gu is serious, just where I need Cai Ji, if you say a word, I will go to the soup and water." ”

Huang Qinshou saw that the matter was almost the same, waved his hand and continued to let his subordinates bring hot dishes, raised his glass and said: "Lord Gu has just arrived, and he will wash the dust for Lord Gu, and he will not return if he is not drunk tonight." ”

The three of them chatted while drinking, Huang Qinshou drank to the head, gestured downward, everyone understood, the woman who played the rhythm lowered her head and hugged their respective musical instruments and left, the three dancers Tingting walked over, first saluted and then sat on the lap of the three generously, picked up their exclusive wine glasses, and carefully served and fed them to drink.

Huang Qinshou and Cai Ji must be accustomed to it, and they naturally cooperate, and their hands are not honestly touching the woman's body.

Gu Shengchao was so angry that he wanted to have a seizure, he forcibly suppressed the anger in his heart, pushed away the woman sitting on his lap and said, "I'm a little dizzy from alcohol, so I'll go back and rest." ”

Huang Qinshou pretended to be suddenly enlightened and said: "It's because the lower officials didn't think it through, and forgot that the adults were accompanied by their families, damn it, damn it." Master Gu is drunk, let Cai Tuanlian send you back to the guest room to rest. ”

The inn was next to the county office, and Cai Tuanlian carried Gu Shengchao back to the guest room.

Wan Ruo stepped forward and answered: "What's the matter, I was drunk like this when I first came." ”

Cai Ji smiled: "Don't get in the way, let Lord Gu drink a few more times and get used to it." ”

He helped Gu Shengchao to sit on the bed, said goodbye, and when he was about to walk out of the door, he took out a small cloth bag from his arms, put it on the table, and rushed out of the door like a raccoon.