Fenghou

Guide Mansion was formerly Yingtian Mansion. It was also called Yingtian Mansion in the Song Dynasty, but it was renamed Guide Mansion by the Puppet Qi and Jin Kingdoms. On Chen Qing’s map, it was also renamed Guide Mansion, but it was noted next to it. Click: Qianying Tianfu.

Guide Mansion is one of the most important state capitals in the Central Plains. It was Liangzhou in the past. Before Jianyan two years ago, its grain production ranked ahead of Yingchang Mansion, second only to Kaifeng Mansion. Large production state.

However, in the second year of Jianyan, when the Yellow River diverted its course, the eastern part of Guide Mansion was swallowed up by the flood of the Yellow River, and the homes of countless people were destroyed. Tens of thousands of people died, and hundreds of thousands of people were affected. Tao appeared, and the eastern part of Guide Mansion became barren.

Songcheng County is the former Nanjing of the Northern Song Dynasty. Nanjing no longer exists, but Songcheng County is still preserved. It is located on the west bank of the New Yellow River. Although it was not swallowed by the Yellow River, the flood also entered the city. After a few days and nights, the water receded. After the flood, there was a plague. Songcheng County was also severely affected, and its population dropped by [-]%. The people are poor, worse than Bianliang.

However, Song City has an advantage. It is an important ferry for the New Road of the Yellow River, so it still has a bit of a commercial atmosphere. Jin Guo does not exploit it too much, and barely maintains a little bit of business.

Chen Qing's army was marching on the official road, and there were endless wilderness on both sides. Although there were still farmland, the soil was very dry, barren, and infertile. Chen Qing shook his head. In order to stop the golden soldiers, Du Chong, who stayed behind in Tokyo Digging up the embankment of the Yellow River is really a sinner through the ages. We must make a statue of him and kneel on the bank of the Yellow River.

At this time, Chen Qing saw an old farmer digging the ground not far away, so he urged his horse to get off the official road, and a dozen of his own soldiers hurriedly followed.

The old farmer was trembling with fear, wanted to run but didn't dare to run, he hurriedly bowed his hands to Chen Qing, "Master Jun, I'm almost sixty, I can no longer join the army!"

Chen Qing waved his hands and said with a smile: "Don't worry, old man. I don't want to arrest young men, but I just want to ask about the farming situation."

Hearing that it wasn't for the young man, the old man put down his heart and said, "I understand farming, what does the general want to ask?"

"I don't see any villages nearby. Where is the old man's house?"

"My family is in the county seat, and there are no villages around here. These farmlands are planted by the people in the city. Everyone lives on this little food!"

"How much wheat is produced per mu now?"

The old farmer sighed, "I can harvest less than [-] catties of wheat per mu this year on my land, and more than [-] catties of grain will be harvested from ten acres of land. I will soon have to pay [-] catties of tax, leaving more than [-] catties of grain. It was too difficult to feed a family of five, so I wondered if I could grow beans."

"Do all the people in the city come out to farm?"

"Almost! If you don't farm and can't afford food, the whole family will starve to death. There were quite a lot of bean growers. Seeing you coming, they all ran away for fear of being caught."

Chen Qing raised his head and looked into the distance. There were indeed crowds of people standing a mile or two away, and they all seemed to be looking in this direction.

"Other than farming, what income does my husband's family have?" Chen Qing asked again.

"My son works as a waiter in a restaurant, earning [-] Wen a day. You must know that during the Xuanhe period, I delivered goods for others and earned more than [-] Wen a day. Now I am exhausted, only [-] Wen a day. , and it is enviable, what kind of world is this!"

"Don't worry, old man! We are the Western Army. When the Western Army comes, the world will change."

At this time, someone shouted on the official road: "Your Highness, the state officials and county officials have left the city!"

"Understood, I'll go right now."

Chen Qing got on his horse, clasped his fists to the old man and said, "Thank you very much!"

Immediately, surrounded by the crowd, he hurried to the official road and accelerated towards the county seat.

The old man was so excited that he couldn't close his mouth from ear to ear, and said to himself: "They are the Western Army! The Western Army doesn't pay taxes when they come, so I don't have to pay my three hundred catties of wheat?"

Not long after, people from far away came back one after another, "Brother Wang, who was that just now!"

"It's the general of the Western Army! What's your name, Your Highness?"

"Brother, Your Highness is the title of Prince, you are confused, that person is probably King Yong!"

When everyone heard that it was King Yong, they all asked the old man a lot of questions, but the old man was stunned. He suddenly slapped his forehead and said in horror: "Damn me! I didn't kneel down to King Yong just now!" salute."

He quickly knelt down and kowtowed in the direction Chen Qingyuan was going, "His Royal Highness, Xiaomin Wang Shun kowtowed to you!"

Seeing his funny appearance, everyone couldn't help laughing.
When Chen Qing arrived in Songcheng County, the army had already begun to station camp outside the county seat. The prefect Liu Sheng, the prefect Li Hun, and the prefect Han Junsheng all came outside the city to welcome His Royal Highness King Yong.

These officials were all officials at first, and later became officials of the Puppet Qi, and then officials of the Jin Kingdom, but generally speaking, they were not too bad.

Most of the officials who survived under Wanyan Wushu's iron fist had no bad deeds, and it was precisely because of this that Chen Qing did not carry out a large-scale purge in the Central Plains, but only purged a group of corrupt officials from the puppet Qi and confiscated countless money.

"See Your Highness!" Everyone saluted.

"You don't have to be too polite!"

Chen Qing got off his horse and asked, "Who is the county magistrate?"

The county magistrate Han Junsheng hurried forward to salute, "Han Junsheng, the current magistrate of Songcheng!"

Chen Qing said with a smile: "My fleet will dock by the Yellow River tomorrow, they are not familiar with this area, please ask the county magistrate to arrange someone who is familiar with the river to guide them."

"I'm going to make arrangements now!" Han Junsheng hurried to find someone.

Chen Qing asked again: "Who is the magistrate?"

The magistrate Liu Sheng, who was about fifty years old, took a step forward, "Your Majesty, Liu Sheng, the prefect of Guide, sees you!"

Chen Qing pointed to the large area of ​​land around him and said, "I want to know how much summer wheat there is in Guide Mansion this year? How much was taken by the golden soldiers?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, reporting to Your Highness, the production of Guide Mansion has not yet been counted. The humble official now only knows that Songcheng County has harvested [-] shi of wheat, and the Jin soldiers have not had time to take it away."

"What about taxes?"

"The tax collection has not yet started. We discussed it and decided to wait for His Highness's order."

"You guys have done a good job. I have announced a [-]-year tax exemption notice in all parts of the Central Plains, and Guide Mansion is no exception. Please post the notice! Chen Qing took out a sample and handed it to him. According to this announcement, put Just change Kaifeng Mansion into Guide Mansion."

Chen Qing saw that everyone was a little hesitant, so he asked again: "In the harvest, how much grain belongs to the official field?"

The judge Li Hun quickly said: "The humble post is Li Hun, the judge. To answer your highness's question, the grain belonging to the official farmland is about [-] shi. If the tenant farmers take half, that is the net income of [-] shi."

"What about other income? Like rent or something?"

"The rent is a little, but not much. Songcheng County's annual rental income is about [-] guan."

"How much does Songcheng County need in a year?"

The government officials couldn't answer, so they looked at the county magistrate Wei Huan together, and Wei Huan bowed and said, "I'm sorry, Wei Huan, the magistrate of Songcheng County, report back to Your Highness, the main expenses of Songcheng County are salary, county school, and salesmen. It is around [-] per year, and it will be more if bridges and roads are built.”

Chen Qing did a quick calculation in his mind. The annual non-tax income of Songcheng County was about [-] guan, compared with the expenditure, there was still a shortfall of [-] guan. , reluctantly.

Chen Qing explained to them with a smile: "Don't worry, I have been exempted from taxes for ten years, mainly direct taxes, household tax, land tax, commercial tax, shelf tax, etc., but there are two indirect taxes that cannot be exempted, salt tax and Liquor tax, these two taxes are collected by the Salt and Iron Administration and the government, and after the tax is exempted, the insufficient government expenditure will be paid to everyone by the Henan Road Appeasement Commissioner, in fact, wasn’t this the case in the previous court?”

The officials were all relieved by Chen Qing's promise, and Liu Sheng, the magistrate, bowed and said, "Your Highness is kind and wise. The Guide Mansion is full of devastation. It is time for the common people to rest and recuperate for ten years, so that people's livelihood can be slowly restored."

Chen Qing went to the city to inspect and found a space. Li Hun, the judge, said in a low voice: "Actually, the humble official is worried about the imperial court. The ten-year tax exemption is what His Royal Highness Yong Wang wants, not the imperial court's attitude. I heard that the imperial court is too poor to open the pot." They can’t even afford the military expenses, how could they agree to tax exemption for ten years? I’m afraid that the order will change every day!”

"Are you still worried about the court?"

Liu Sheng sneered and said: "Which state do you think has worried about the imperial court? I'm afraid you are the most dull. Don't care about the imperial court. Our future imperial court will be in Jingzhao, not Lin'an. This is the king we are loyal to. If you understand this, you will lose the official hat on your head."