In the early summer, there has been a slight sense of heat, the wind with the boiling heat, can no longer wear thick clothes, rich people, early change of silk, although Emperor Taizu once issued a decree, merchants, people can not wear silk and satin, but now, eating is a problem, the government can not even control the displaced people everywhere, who cares about these?

However, speaking of the displaced people, with Qin Daofang, the governor of Qizhou, pacifying the Baiyang rebellion in Qizhou, it has now improved greatly.

At this time, on the official road from Luzhou to Qizhou, you can see ragged people everywhere, who are heading to Qizhou, because of the war, many fields in Qizhou are barren, especially those large households that annex land, many of them have been wiped out, and the land under their names has become ownerless, and they are distributed to other people by the governor's mansion, which is also a good thing done by the Qingyang Sect. Now that the Qingyang Sect has been completely pacified, Qin Daofang naturally wants to recruit displaced people to go back to cultivate the fields, and Qin Daofang has made a promise that as long as he cultivates for more than seven years, this field can become his own property, and the Governor's Mansion will issue a title deed. For ordinary people, the people take food as the sky, and if they have the land, they will have food, and they naturally yearn for it, in addition to the people of Qizhou who fled because of the disaster of war, there are many other people from the state capital, and they have also flocked to Qizhou.

There are also merchants who have been cut off from trade routes for a long time because of the war, and they have also smelled the business opportunities, this governor obviously has great ambitions, and has broken the set of practices of the imperial court in the past.

For a time, everyone went to Qizhou.

On this pipeline road where everyone goes to Qizhou, there are two horses that are a little conspicuous, because they are not going to Qizhou, but from Qizhou to Luzhou, going upstream.

These two horsemen are Li Xuandu and Shen Changsheng who left Langya Mansion.

It was the first time for Shen Changsheng to ride a horse, he carefully grasped the reins, his back was straight, and he didn't dare to be distracted at all. On the other hand, Li Xuandu is much more casual, and at this time, Li Xuandu has already changed his outfit, no longer a crane deep coat with big sleeves and fluttering, but a neat short dress, and a hat on his head to cover most of his eyebrows. His sword, "Bone Streamer", was so conspicuous that he wrapped it in cloth and placed it horizontally on his horse's back, so that people could tell it to be a blade at a glance.

After walking out of a section, Li Xuandu saw a convoy of cars coming from a distance, large cars and small cars, some with luggage, some with people, and a few carriages in the middle, quite gorgeous, obviously the owner of the carriage is extraordinary. In addition, there are many guards carrying weapons in the convoy, calm and sophisticated.

Shen Changsheng asked curiously, "Mr. Li, who are those?"

Li Xuandu just glanced at it, and then replied, "It's a return to my hometown." ”

"Returning to their hometown?" Shen Changsheng didn't understand for a while: "I think the people who go to Qizhou are ordinary people, how can there be such a big family?"

Li Xuandu smiled and explained: "There is nothing I don't understand, when the Qingyang Sect was in turmoil, they fled from Qizhou, and now that the Qingyang Sect has been pacified, they naturally want to come back, after all, they still have many things in Qizhou that they can't take away, such as houses and land." So when they came back this time, they wanted to take back their things. ”

Shen Changsheng's eyes widened: "It's been so many years, can you want it back?"

"It's hard to say. Li Xuandu shook his head and said: "It depends on what Qin Butang means, if Qin Butang only wants to be a good official of the imperial court, then most likely he can come back, but if Qin Butang wants the sun and moon to change the sky, then he will not come back." ”

Shen Changsheng became more and more puzzled: "Why does Qin Butang want the sun and moon to change to a new sky, so why don't they come back?"

Li Xuandu asked rhetorically, "Do you know who the biggest enemy of the people is?"

Shen Changsheng thought for a while, and said with some uncertainty: "Is it the emperor?"

Li Xuandu shook his head and said, "No." ”

Shen Changsheng said again: "Is it the Qingyang Sect?"

Li Xuandu still shook his head: "It's not right." ”

This time, Shen Changsheng shook his head: "Then I can't guess, please tell me Mr. Li." ”

"It is the gentry, and it also wraps the officials at all levels. It is not the emperor who can really exploit the people, but the gentry. Those people's fat and people's ointment, which can enter the emperor's pocket, will not be saved in ten. Li Xuandu said: "In a sense, the interests of the emperor and the interests of the people are the same. ”

Shen Changsheng heard this statement for the first time, so he disagreed: "But the emperor is building a lot of buildings, extravagant, and the people who suffer are the people, and the history books say so." ”

Li Xuandu "ha": "The emperor's extravagance will indeed suffer the people, but what really makes the people suffer is not how much money the emperor spends, but because the emperor's extravagance will give the officials in the middle an excuse to loot." Take Emperor Sejong of this dynasty as an example, he once wanted to build a large number of palaces, and the budget for two palaces was five million taels, but just one palace was built, and it cost five million taels, and the people of the world were miserable. But if you really have to calculate it carefully, is 5 million taels a lot? So much so that the people of the whole world can't afford it? My Great Wei's tax revenue is 90 million taels a year, and just 5 million taels of silver makes the people's public opinion surge, what do you say?"

Shen Changsheng was asked, not knowing how to answer.

Li Xuandu sighed lightly: "To build the palace, wood is used, and a piece of material that can be used as a beam can be transported from Yunzhou to the imperial capital, and the cost is 100,000 taels of silver. The emperor spends a tael of silver on it, and the officials at all levels below can take advantage of this opportunity to loot ten taels, and the emperor spends five million taels of silver, and they will loot fifty million taels of silver, and you don't think it's too much, it's not one person who is greedy, but officials at all levels are greedy, big officials are greedy, small officials are greedy, and the people can't bear it, so they can only sell their fields and defect to the gentry. ”

"The gentry did not have to pay taxes to the court, and the people joined the gentry, so that they could be exempted from paying taxes by the court. But in this way, the court could not collect taxes, so it had to pay more taxes to those people who did not devote themselves to the gentry, forcing these people to live and join the gentry. In the long run, the gentry landed more and more, and the imperial court paid less and less taxes. And because the number of people is increasing, there are many people and few lands, and the life of the people is becoming more and more miserable. If there are natural and man-made disasters, the people are everywhere, and the court is unable to provide relief, the people will rebel, and the court will have no money, let alone the ability to quell the rebellion, so the court will have to die. ”

Shen Changsheng was dumbfounded when he heard this.

Li Xuandu continued: "So every time there is a change of dynasty, we have to go through a great chaos, kill a person who bleeds thousands of miles, destroy all those old gentry and nobles, and redistribute their land to the people. At the same time, after the people experienced the war, the number of people was greatly reduced, and at this time, there were few people and many lands, and the food planted could not only be enough for their own food, but also saved for famine, so everyone lived and worked in peace and contentment, which was the way of the peaceful world. ”

"The emperor and the court are one, one is prosperous, and the other is lost. But the officials are different, they have finished this term, no matter what happens in the future, of course, there are loyal ministers and clean officials who take the world as their own responsibility, but there are also traitors and corrupt officials who only seek wealth and nobility. The people hate corruption, the emperor also hates corruption, the people feel that those corrupt officials have robbed them of their money, and the emperor feels that these corrupt officials have stolen his money and harmed his world. That's why I say that in a sense, the interests of the emperor and the common people are the same."

"In some dynasties, the country is not right, there is no chaos of swords and soldiers, but with palace conspiracy to ascend to the throne, those gentry and nobles still occupy a lot of land, and the people still have no land, such a dynasty will be short-lived, difficult to last. ”

Shen Changsheng shook his head, feeling that he understood a little, and felt that he still didn't understand: "What Mr. Li means is that if Governor Qin is for the good of the people, he will not return these lands to those big families, right?"

Li Xuandu nodded approvingly: "The son can be taught." ”