In August of the ninth year of the emperor's reign, Emperor Ran Min decided to tour the south.

So Ran Min ordered the crown prince Ran Ming to supervise the regent of the country, and he led a patrol team of 30,000 people to the south. It is worth mentioning that this time in the patrol team, Ran Min also brought a lot of harem concubines, palace maids and honor guards, which were readily available.

Originally, Ran Min didn't want to make such a big move, but the ministers thought that Jiangnan had just been pacified for only a year, and there were many rebellions, so they were afraid that there would be any accidents on the way out of the patrol, and they had to bring so many military horses.

Of course, Ran Min's patrol activities seem to be a bit laborious and costly, but it is indeed necessary.

Just like Qin Shi Huang.

Historically, rulers who were keen to travel the world were often regarded as a waste of people's power for pleasure, such as Qin Shi Huang touring the world, Emperor Yang of Sui going to Yangzhou, and Qianlong going to Jiangnan.

So, is the purpose of the safari just for pleasure?

Did Qin Shi Huang frequently travel the world for pleasure?

During the eleven years when Qin Shi Huang unified the whole country and became emperor, there were five expeditions.

Among them, the twenty-seven years when the Qin State ruled the world was the northern tour, and the destination was Longxi and Shangjun.

Twenty-eight years, from the east of Xianyang out of the letter Guguan, climb Zou Yi Mountain, seal Mount Tai, and then and the east of the Bohai Sea, poor into the mountain, climb the Fu, as Lang evil platform, stay for three months. Cross the Huaishui to Hengshan and Nanjun, and return from Wuguan.

In the twenty-ninth year, the east sent a letter to Guguan through Yangwu to Langxie and Zhifu, and returned from Shangdang.

In the thirty-second year, he went east out of Xianyang to Jieshi, passed through Daijun, Yanmen, and Yunzhong, and returned from Shangjun.

Thirty-seven years, out of Wuguan to the south through Wan, through Yunmeng, Huiji, along the East China Sea, the Yellow Sea to Langxie, Rongcheng Mountain, Zhifu, collapsed in the plain Jin dune platform.

However, the purpose of Qin Shi Huang's tour is indeed not to enjoy the mountains and rivers.

In the era of Qin Shi Huang, the parade was actually not an easy task, and the traffic conditions were not good at that time, although the gallop road was built in advance, which improved the traffic situation between Qin and the hometown of the Six Kingdoms. But with the conditions at the time, bumps were inevitable.

And Qin Shi Huang parade was long, the 28-year parade took about seven and a half months, and the 37-year parade took nearly a year, and Qin Shi Huang died of illness during that parade. Therefore, cruising the world was actually a test of the emperor's body at that time, and it was definitely not as easy as touring the mountains and rivers.

"Historical Records: Gaozu Benji" once recorded that "Qin Shi Huang often said that the southeast has the spirit of the son of heaven, so he was disgusted with it because of his eastward travel." "It was Qin Shi Huang who said that there was a son of heaven in the southeast and might subvert the rule of the Qin Empire, so he wanted to parade to suppress it.

Although it is very magical. But in fact, this sentence reflects two messages, one is that the purpose of Qin Shi Huang's hunting tour is to maintain the rule of the Qin Empire, and the other is that Qin Shi Huang believed that this area that caused instability in the empire was in the southeast, that is, the homeland of the Six Kingdoms, especially the Qi and Chu states.

Of course, it is undeniable that part of Qin Shi Huang's parade was to find a way to live forever.

From the perspective of macro space, whether Qin Shi Huang went out of Hanguguan in the east or Wuguan in the south, the parade activities were always inseparable from the Shandong Peninsula, and the Qilu seaside was the main destination.

Qin Shi Huang also had a trip to sea, which seems to have little to do with consolidating his rule, and should be seen as an independent act in search of immortality.

"Qiaoqiao, where are you?" On the way, Ran Min slept for a while, and when he was sleepy, he leaned on the pillow and asked Dong Qiaoqiao, the queen who was napping beside him.

"I have entered the boundary of Wu County, and the county seat of Wu County is in front of me."

"Hmm."

Ran Min stretched his muscles, then opened the window of the car, and looked at the guards who were walking in the same direction outside, as well as the rising sun on the horizon, and his heart was quite tranquil for a while.

Ran Min's patrol team was going to pass through the village, and everywhere Ran Min looked, there were small bridges and flowing water, and the scene of cooking smoke curling.

The straight road to Wu County is under repair, so it is impassable, and the procession can only take this kind of country road, and whenever passing through the village, many people will spontaneously come out and bow down, as if they want to see the emperor.

Not long after, the team went all the way to the boundary of Wu County, and at the Shili Changting, the county commander of Wu County, as well as the county guard, county cheng, county lieutenant and other local officials of Wu County came out to greet them. Even thousands of people dragged their families here to greet Ran Min.

"Long live my emperor, long live, long live!"

When Ran Min got out of the car, all the subjects knelt down and bowed, and the mountain shouted long live, showing their piety.

Ran Min walked up to the ministers, waved his hand and said, "Let's all be even." ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

When everyone got up, a middle-aged man with an elegant appearance and wearing an official uniform lowered his hand and said: "Minister Wu County Guard Li Song, see my emperor!" My Emperor Holy Bow Jin'an! ”

"I'm there."

Ran Min agreed, then glanced at the crowded crowd again, frowned, and said, "Li Song, didn't I say that the people don't have to go out of the city to greet each other?" The people have their own business, so how can I bother them to come to meet me? ”

"Your Majesty, these are the people who have spontaneously come out to greet you. Since the government announced that His Majesty will pass through Wu County and inspect all aspects of Wu County, the people have all wanted to pay homage to His Majesty's face, and we can't stop it. ”

With such flattering words, Ran Min didn't know how much he had heard, and he already had some immunity.

Ran Min boarded the car again, entered Wu County with his subjects, and finally stopped at the county office.

As soon as he entered the county office, Ran Min asked Li Song to present him with the files, atlases, tax books, population books, etc. of various places in Wu County. With so many volumes, Ran Min must not be able to read them all by himself, so he just spot-checked some of them and found nothing unusual.

Closing the file, Ran Min glanced at the officials present again, and said lightly: "Li Song." ”

"The minister is here!" Li Song also thought that Ran Min had seen something wrong with the files over the years, so he stood up tremblingly.

"How many counties are there in Kure? What is the population? ”

"Returning to Your Majesty, Wu County has jurisdiction over Wu, Haiyan, Wucheng, Yuhang, Biling, Dantu, Qu'a, Youquan, Qiantang, Fuchun, Yangxian, Wuxi, Lou, Yong'an, and Linshui fifteen counties. It has a population of 420,000 and 94,000 households. ”

Ran Min bowed slightly: "Wu County is worthy of being the richest place in Jiangdong. The population of Wu County alone is already the sum of the two counties of Taishan County and Pengcheng County in Xuzhou! I heard that half of the annual tax revenue of the Eastern Jin Dynasty came from the six counties of Jiangdong, and Wu County was the first of the six counties of Jiangdong, so it should be so. ”

Li Song was silent.

"I just took a look, the rich Wu County, the tax paid to the imperial court last year was only two million yuan. That's too little, isn't it? ”

"Your Majesty, with all due respect, Wu County is rich and its people are many merchants, but Wu County is the land of fish and rice, and the people can hand over not many treasure money in a year, and the tax law formulated by the imperial court does not allow the use of silk, cloth, and rice as taxes to be paid, so so far, the taxes paid by Wu County last year are only as much as two million yuan."

Ran Min's brows furrowed: "Li Song, this is not right, right?" According to the market price, the consistent treasure banknote is equal to a thousand copper coins, which is equal to one tael of silver. When Wu County was not yet under the rule of my Great Wei Dynasty and was still under the rule of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, I still remember that Wu County paid all kinds of taxes to the Eastern Jin Dynasty, which was four million taels a year! Moreover, this is only silver money, such as rice millet, cloth and other things have not been counted! I'm curious, why did Wu County treat the Great Wei and the Eastern Jin Dynasty so differently? ”

"Your Majesty! Death penalty! Li Song's face turned pale with fright, and he immediately knelt down.

Seeing this, the officials present all knelt on the ground in an uproar and pleaded guilty one after another.

Ran Min pursed his lips and said, "Capital crime? This is not your capital sin. I don't want you to be honest and upright officials, good officials who love the people like sons, but you really disappointed me too much. You should all know that my Jinyi Guard is powerful, not in the world, but in the territory of the Great Wei Empire, as long as I want to know something, even what you Li Song ate yesterday, sleep with that concubine, whether you took a bath yesterday, I can know all these things. ”

"Concealing it from me is a crime of deception. I'll give you one more chance. Why has Wu County paid less and less taxes to the imperial court in recent years? ”

Hearing this, the officials present all looked at each other, not knowing how to answer Ran Min's question.

To be honest with Ran Min, it is estimated that they will not be able to mix in the officialdom, and they will have to worry about their lives. If you don't tell the truth to Ran Min, the black gauze hat on your head is not guaranteed, and you may be deducted from the hat of "bullying the king", and it is not too much to be beheaded all over the house.