Fenghou

In the early morning, countless cavalry squads rushed out of the gate of Daxing City with notices and rushed to the states and counties.

At the same time, notices were posted in front of the gates of Daxing City, "Yong Wangling No. [-] on Yanshan Road", and countless people stood in front of the notices to watch.

The news spread throughout the city in an instant like an explosion of iron fire and thunder. King Yong ordered that all taxes in Yanshan Mansion be exempted for three years. Of course, the price of salt and wine will not be reduced. It is a government monopoly and is a relatively hidden tax.

In the territory of the Kingdom of Yong, all salt is priced at 120 ren per catty, which is a unified price across the country. Even coarse salt in Changping stores is canceled. Its existence impacts the salt tax, which is already the first in the Kingdom of Yong. A big financial income.

It supports the operation of Jingzhao and local governments, and it also supports the military expenditure of 60 million per month for the 180 troops of the Western Army.

Cracking down on illicit salt has become the top priority of local salt and iron bureaus, and the punishment is extremely severe. Almost all salt merchants who cook salt privately and traffic in illicit salt are killed by their families. Shops selling illicit salt are also punished, and their families are exiled in Hexi.

Far away, the three-year tax-free notice on Yanshan Road was announced in all states and counties, and the three-year tax-free decree was announced, which set off a huge upsurge in the entire land of Yanshan Road. celebrate.

As soon as the King Yong's decree came out, Yanshan Road's resistance to the Western Army was immediately reversed. There were smiles on the faces of the people, and Han people began to comfort the patrolling Western Army soldiers.

Tax exemption is the most powerful way to win the hearts and minds of the people. The bottom-level people have to pay taxes on half of their income, and farmers have to pay half of their harvest. Now the sudden tax exemption is equivalent to doubling their income. , Popular sentiment began to reverse.

As for the salt tax, Yanshan Road used to charge 120 renminbi per catty for salt, but now it has been directly reduced to [-] renminbi per catty, and Changping stores that sell coarse cloth and coarse grains have appeared. It made countless low-level people living in poverty see life, and also made the people at the bottom of Yanshan Road deeply feel the difference between the Western Army and the Jurchen Army.

When Chen Qing led the army to leave, hundreds of thousands of people bowed down along the way, sincerely grateful for the hope the Western Army brought to them.

At this time, Yanshan Road has been taken over by a large number of officials brought by Lu Qingshan. Except for the governor and long history who were appointed by Chen Qing, other middle-level and county government officials were appointed by the Ministry of Officials. Although Niu Gao served as the Yanshan Road A little envoy, but he can't interfere in politics, not just Niu Gao, all areas are separated from the military and the government, with clear divisions.

Chen Qing left Yanshan Mansion and returned to Jingzhao with an army of [-].

At noon, the people in Lin'an were eating and drinking tea leisurely. Many people looked at the street from time to time. At this time, the newspaper sellers should have appeared.

When the newspapers rose back then, all the heroes came together. There were more than a dozen newspapers in Lin'an City. After a few years, there are only three newspapers left to rule the roost. The old one is the "Beijing News". Ranked at the top of each newspaper, other newspapers can only rely on it.

The second is "Wuyue Commercial Daily", a newspaper jointly founded by a group of Jiangnan gentry, mainly publishing various business information, and is very popular among businessmen and dentists. The third is "Anecdote News", this It is a tabloid that specializes in publishing all kinds of romantic affairs. Although it is very vulgar, it is very popular among the people in Lin'an.

Interestingly, many readers buy all three newspapers, and the daily newspaper money is worth dozens of articles.

At this time, the clear and crisp shout of the newspaper seller came from the street, "Extremely good news, the Western Army has recovered Yanshan Road!"

The drinkers and tea drinkers got up and ran towards the door, and quickly surrounded the newspaper seller. After a while, the newspaper seller was robbed of all the newspapers in his hand.

The headline on the front page was "Master Wang Enters Yanshan on a Spring Night". This news really shocked everyone. You must know that "Fengzhou Bloody Battle Prairie Wolf" was still published more than a month ago. The news about the grassland nomadic cavalry, just over a month ago, the Western Army captured Yanshan Road, fulfilling the century-old dream of the Song Dynasty.

This news shocked the people of the whole city, and also made countless people ecstatic. This was not only the joy of regaining the lost ground, but also the fact that the Han army had begun to counterattack.

The whole city began to beat gongs and drums to celebrate the victory. This was another ecstasy for the whole people after the recovery of Hebei Road last year. The whole Lin'an City was like a festival, and the joy of victory filled everyone's heart.

But for many people who are well versed in the current situation, what they see is something deeper. The Kingdom of Jin has really declined. The interests of the site can not be defended.

For such a major event as the recovery of Yanshan Mansion, the court unexpectedly remained silent, as if nothing happened, or the recovery of Yanshan Mansion had nothing to do with them.

Even the emperor Zhao Gou remained silent, and no one dared to mention this matter in front of him, lest it arouse his monstrous anger.

At night, in a tavern in Xiwazi, three officials were sitting drinking together. One official was Shen Jiangnan, a member of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, the other was Bo Lu Zhenxing, the head of Dali Temple, and the third was Fan, the head of Taichang Temple. Jun.

Shen Jiangnan took a sip of wine and said, "I received a letter today from Xu Hongzhi. He has just been appointed as the governor of Yizhou, and he took his wife and children to Yizhou to take office."

Lu Zhenxing was surprised and said: "He did a good job, and he actually became the chief historian. This is a general judge in the past, but he is from the sixth rank! I remember that he was only an eighth rank official in Lin'an before!"

Shen Jiangnan said indifferently: "Xu Hongzhi has enough qualifications, but he is not good at drilling, and he keeps improving opportunities. In Jingzhao, he doesn't look at these things. If he comes from a Jinshi background and has enough qualifications, he can take up a corresponding official position. A new court like Jingzhao, They have not yet formed cliques, they are basically meritocracy, and there are many opportunities, which is the gospel for officials from poor families."

"Now the court officials are half gone!"

"It should be. A few days ago, Zhang Jun wrote to the Son of Heaven, requesting to increase the number of Jinshi admissions. He mentioned the increase and decrease of court officials. He said that the number of court officials is less than half of what it was three years ago, which has affected the normal operation of the court."

Shen Jiangnan glanced at Fan Jun, who had been drinking all the time, and said, "Brother Wu Liang seems to have something on his mind?"

Fan Jun shook his head, "I don't have anything on my mind. I'm just thinking that this time when the Western Army captured Yanshan Road, the Kingdom of Jin was so easily defeated. Is this still the powerful Kingdom of Jin in our mind?"

Lu Zhenxing smiled and said, "It should be that the Western Army is stronger!"

"The strength of the Western Army should only be one aspect!"

Shen Jiangnan said slowly: "The key is the decline of the Jin Kingdom. Its national strength can't keep up. The Jurchens have only 200 million people. How many young and strong people have died in the past 20 years, and how many soldiers can they have? There is also pig iron. It is said that the Western Army After capturing the Daming Mansion, there was no pig iron in the warehouse. I guess Yanshan Mansion is the same. The source of soldiers and pig iron related to the military strength are gone. The weakness of Jin Guo’s small country and few people has been exposed. Now it seems that it has been wiped out. It's just a matter of time."

"Is it so serious?" Lu Zhenxing couldn't believe it.

Fan Jun said with a smile: "Actually Jiangnan is right. The loss of Yanshan Road is of great significance to Jin. They will not have the advanced technology of the Han people, and they will not have excellent weapon craftsmen. This is actually the key to the strength of Liao and Jin. The reason is, without the craftsmen of Yanshan Mansion, I am afraid they would not even be able to make a trebuchet."

At this time, the shopkeeper ran over nervously and said, "Plum Blossom Guard is here again!"

"Bah! Those dogs have really good noses."

A few Plum Blossom Guard soldiers walked into the shop, and the topic of the three changed.

"Li Yanyan in Yanyu Pavilion can't do it, Amei from Yanzilou can be regarded as the oiran, at least she is much more talented than Li Yanyan."

"Nonsense! Li Yanyan's tea ordering is the best in the world, why can't it compare to Amei, Amei just plays the piano better."

"You're the one talking nonsense, how can Ami not be good at piano, chess, calligraphy and painting?"

Several Plum Blossom Guard soldiers glanced at them, turned and left.

Shen Jiangnan sighed, "Everything else is fine. I really can't stand this kind of low-level means of monitoring officials. If I go to Jingzhao tomorrow, don't be surprised."

Lu Zhenxing and Fan Jun glanced at each other, they both knew that the Shen family had made a decision.