Liu Bei set off from Moling to return to Beijing, and it was already summer. He stayed in Jianghuai and Jiangdong for more than two months. Coupled with the hurry, Liu Bei's eastern tour took more than three months. It was spring and February when I went to Beijing, and it was summer and May when I returned to Beijing, and it was almost autumn.

After returning from Jianghuai, Liu Bei summoned Zhuge Liang and his close ministers.

"Kong Ming, can the funeral of Duke Xu be completed?" Liu Bei asked.

A few days after Huan Jie's death, on Liu Bei's way back, Xu Jing, one of the three princes, died of illness. Because Liu Bei was not in Wuhan, Zhuge Liang arranged a funeral for Xu Jing for Liu Bei, and rewarded him with money and food and Xu Jing's family.

"Your Majesty, Duke Xu has been buried today, Liang mourned for him, wrote to the Central Plains Shangqing, and ordered him to inform the clansmen." Zhuge Liang said.

"Good!"

Liu Bei bowed his head slightly and said, "Since this year, many of the emperors have died. In addition to taking care of the funeral, Kong Ming should send more doctors to ask about illness, just in case. ”

"No!"

Xu Jing came from Runan, Yuzhou, and ran to Jiangdong due to the turmoil in the late Han Dynasty, then went into exile in Jiaozhou, and then settled in Yizhou, and was captured by Liu Bei.

Since returning to the Han Dynasty, Xu Jing's reputation is lofty, and the people of Cao Wei learned of Xu Jing's whereabouts, and those who received his favors, such as Chen Ji's sons Chen Qun, Yuan Lian, Hua Xin, Wang Lang, etc., have written to Xu Jing to say hello.

came and went, and Xu Jing became a window for the Southern Han to understand Cao Wei's domestic trends. Now that Xu Jing has died, Zhuge Liang is reasonable, and it is appropriate to inform those people in the Central Plains.

Of course, there are contacts with Cao Wei Shangqing, not only Xu Jing, but also Zhuge Liang, Liu Ba and Chen Qun often exchange letters.

I have to say that Chen Qun has a lot of ideas, since Liu Bei established the Southern Han Dynasty, he has had close correspondence with Zhuge Liang and Liu Ba on the pretext of caring for Xu Jing.

In the letter, Chen Qun did not disclose any major national affairs, on the contrary, he often talked about trivial matters with Zhuge Liang and Liu Ba, understood Wu Chu's landscape masters, and occasionally greeted his previous lord Liu Bei.

In his reply, Zhuge Liang asked about the recent situation of friends in the north, such as Cui Jun (Zhou Ping), Shi Tao (Guangyuan), Meng Jian (Gongwei), etc. As Shang Shuling, Chen Qunzhi is not speechless, and if it does not involve confidentiality, he will basically reply truthfully.

Zhuge Qiao once asked Zhuge Liang why he wanted to communicate with the secretary of the enemy country?

Zhuge Liang smiled and said nothing, there were some things that did not happen, and he couldn't talk too much about them with outsiders.

Zhuge Liang learned about Chen Qun's life through Liu Bei, Chen Qun could not be said to be loyal, and he was a pure scholar of the Central Plains.

In the past, Chen Qun left Liu Bei and did not defect to Cao Cao, but took refuge in Xuzhou with his father. Ironically, when he surrendered to Cao Cao, he was in the army of Lü Bu with his father.

Chen Qun may not be able to serve the Han today, but maybe one day, when the Han can be pushed back to the Central Plains and on the verge of extinction, how can Chen Qun not think about him and his family?

Of course, this kind of thing is too far away, Zhuge Liang doesn't dare to think about it, he can only say that it is possible. And there is nothing wrong with having a pen pal of Cao Wei's high-ranking official.

"Kong Ming!"

Liu Bei sat cross-legged and asked, "There are eight edicts issued by me, you can browse them, are there any shortcomings?" ”

"Your Majesty!"

Zhuge Liang stroked his fan and smiled, and said: "The eight edicts are right to the critical point of the moment, and Your Majesty's eastward journey this time is of great benefit." If you can travel for a few years now, wait for the people of Shanyue to come out, and become naturalized, it is expected that the national strength of our Han Dynasty should be prosperous at that time, and the people in urban and rural areas should be happy. ”

Liu Bei issued eight edicts, although it was to reduce taxes and reduce pressure for the people, but in fact, it was also changing to increase the financial pressure of the Southern Han Dynasty.

But fortunately, Zhuge Liang was implementing the law, and Huo Fan was implementing the strategy of heaven and earth, and the people of Shanyue who were hiding in the mountains were widely inspected. The two-pronged approach means that the reduced taxes for the bottom will be paid by the big households. And with the improvement of the lives of the people at the bottom, the hidden households will be precipitated one after another, and positive feedback will be formed.

All in all, Zhuge Liang recognized the eight edicts implemented by Liu Bei.

Liu Bei stroked his beard and said proudly: "Xi Huan Ling lost the world because of the tax increase, if I can reduce taxes and gain the world, this should be seen by the kings of future generations." ”

Saying that, Liu Bei asked: "Kong Ming, Cheng Ming is in Shu to break the law, I don't know how many people come out?" ”

Zhuge Liang pondered for a while and said: "Your Majesty, Pan Thorn Shi strictly enforces the law, although the Shuzhong clan has many grievances, but there are more than 3,000 households so far, and the hidden households in various counties are being precipitated one after another. After the search, the counties will be recorded and submitted to Wuhan. ”

"Can there be a big surname in Shuzhong, are you dissatisfied?" Liu Bei asked.

Zhuge Liang frowned and thought, and said: "There is a lot of dissatisfaction, according to Pan Tingshi, on the day of the routine law, many officials in the county are reluctant to do it. It only allows the Guanghan county officials to search for the Shu County clan, and the Shu County officials to search for the Guanghan clan. Even so, there are many complaints. Later, Pan Assassin executed several people, and the officials did not dare to slack off. ”

"The surname Liu in Shuzhong is dissatisfied, and it seems that he wants to gather people to make trouble, fortunately Lu Baliang led his troops to Chengdu, and the big clans in Shuzhong suddenly settled, and they did not dare to cheat, and they all precipitated the population, and did not dare to hide it."

"As for the words of the court, there are occasional Shu people who play and impeach Pan Jianshi and Lu Baliang for cruelty to the people, which is suspected of being based on the rebellion of Bashu."

"Humph!"

"Yan Chengming, Bo Yan rebellion?"

Liu Bei snorted coldly and said, "From what I can see, if you want to see the rebels, it should be these Shu people. It's okay not to use the sword soldiers, but if you want to gather a crowd to make trouble, the sword soldiers should be ruthless. ”

In order to successfully retrieve the hidden population, Liu Bei transferred Lu Xun and used the generals of Ba and Chu to deal with the Shuzhong clan. As Liu Bei thought, the Shuzhong clan was too soft, and when they saw the army coming, they gave in one after another.

The Shuzhong clan is not stupid, Zhuge Liang is only retrieving the population, and he is not taking the slaves from them. In the face of their lives, they relented and decided to pay money to keep them safe.

Of course, this does not mean that the Shuzhong clan has completely surrendered, they are only forced to succumb because of the force of the Southern Han Dynasty. In the future, if the time is available, they may be bold enough to resist.

Zhuge Liang didn't want to implicate too many people, and said: "Although the household registration is searched in Yizhou today, it is not possible to forcibly search for the population in the south today. If the counties in Shuzhong are retrieved, I don't know what Your Majesty thinks? ”

Liu Bei pondered for a while and said: "When I went to Jiangdong, Zhong Miao made a speech, and when the differentiation was searched, the hidden household should be retrieved. If the general is strong and strong, he can be organized into a soldier because of the trilogy; If a tribe does not perform military service, it is sufficient to make the cashier pay taxes. Those who have not been soldiers will be treated normally, I don't know what Kong Ming thinks? ”

Zhuge Liang stroked the feather fan and said: "Huo Du's words are very reasonable, and Liang has the same opinion. The ministers thought that those who were not soldiers needed to observe the difference in status, and then formulate detailed rules to make them separate from the hidden household and pay the oral tax. ”

Zhuge Liang is also divided, and even the powerful and large clans who have not sent troops are divided and disintegrated, so as to minimize the impact of retrieving household registration.

"Please Kong Ming!" Liu Bei asked.

Zhuge Liang pondered for a while, and said: "Today is the Central Plains, Your Majesty might as well open the decree, if there are Wu Chu who want to join the army, choose the strong ones and join the forbidden army." When searching for household registration, they will be treated as military households and exempted from military service. The slaves and hermits under his door have their own ways to deal with them, and they are not all in general. ……”

Compared with Huo Jun's too concise decree, Zhuge Liang implemented more policy content, and there were more situations for the big clans to choose from, and the big clans had more choices, so they were less likely to do extreme things.

"Good!"

Liu Bei bowed his head slightly and said: "Kong Ming's words should be the words of the Minister of State, and today's law and policy can be said from this speech." First in Wuhan, then look at the results, revise them, and push them to the counties. ”

"No!"

(End of chapter)