Tibet.

Chapter 1239: The Black Fish That Slipped Through the Net
Wei Jiansu said calmly: "My first principle is that if land tax is levied, household tax should not be levied. This is fair. It is not right that the city dwellers only bear household tax, while the farmers have to bear land tax and household tax. Tenant farmers even have to pay land rent. This is too much exploitation."

Li Ye walked a few steps with his hands behind his back and said, "All those big landlords who own land live in the city. Don't they escape the household tax?"

Wei Jiansu smiled and said, "Your Highness, how many of these big landlords actually pay taxes? Your Highness can use other methods to collect money from them! For example, titles. In the past, there were so many noble officials that an old farmer selling vegetables could be a senior official. It is simply meaningless. Your Highness can revise the title system and divide the titles into smaller ones. A baron can be divided into several levels. Using titles to harvest the big landlords is more effective than collecting taxes, isn't it?"

Li Ye nodded and asked, "And then?"

"Then, Your Highness can make some changes to the household tax and reform it internally, such as collecting taxes based on the number of people, and not collecting taxes on underage children. Secondly, reduce taxes. If there are many underage children in the family, you can further reduce taxes or even exempt them from taxes. This is actually a disguised way of encouraging people to have children."

Li Mi added: "The key is to suppress food prices so that the lower-class people with large populations can afford to eat. The court can open official grain shops in various counties to sell coarse grains, old rice and coarse linen, focusing on cheap prices. In this way, even if the lower-class people have many children, they can still afford to eat."

Wei Jiansu's plan was indeed good. He gave benefits to local governments, made the household tax a special tax for the court, and then reduced the household tax. Instead, he used the household tax reduction to encourage childbirth, which was more effective than directly abolishing the household tax.

Li Ye thought for a moment and said, "What about the tenant farmers? The land is not theirs. Maybe they have to pay both land tax and household tax?"

"It's very simple. If you pay the household tax, you don't have to pay the land tax. If you pay the land tax, you don't have to pay the household tax. Let's use the tax bill as a tool. If the landlord wants to use the land rent to make trouble, then we will set a unified limit on the government land rent. Farmers will naturally choose government land instead of continuing to rent the landlord's land."

At this point, Wei Jiansu slowly said: "In another ten years, when Your Highness has completely consolidated his rule, Your Highness can gradually implement the abolition of slavery. This is the key to the complete prosperity of the Tang Dynasty."

Li Ye said happily: "Please ask Prime Minister Wei to write a complete memorial about what we said today. According to the new plan, we can conduct a pilot project in Bashu for one year again. The tax increase can be abolished first."

March is almost here, and according to the plan, Li Ye is going to lead his army to war.

He immediately appointed his father Li Dai as the chief examiner of the imperial examinations, and as before, handed over the power of regent to Princess Dugu Xinyue.

He led an army of 100,000 to attack Puyang and Hebei. He would personally serve as the commander-in-chief in this battle to wipe out the vassal states.

After capturing Licheng County and Yidu County, Guo Ziyi took advantage of the fact that the Yellow River had not yet thawed and led an army of 100,000 to cross the Yellow River and occupy Dizhou. The main force of the army was stationed in Luhe County, the westernmost part of Dizhou.

At the same time, the Tang army sent a large amount of food and supplies across the Yellow River.

Nearly ten days passed in a flash and the Yellow River began to thaw.

That morning, a group of scouts came rushing from Dezhou. Leading the scout was a captain named Xue Wei, who was ordered by Guo Ziyi to investigate the situation in Dezhou.

Half an hour later, the scouts arrived at Lihe County. On the city wall, Guo Ziyi was watching their arrival.

Although Guo Ziyi currently occupied Dizhou, merchants from Dezhou revealed that there was not a single soldier in Dezhou or even Bozhou. This made Guo Ziyi a little confused. He could not see through the strategy of the Wei Bo army. He remembered that the regent had told him a possibility before, that Tian Chengsi might be withdrawn to the north, allowing the Tang army to fight the Uighur army first, and then they would reap the benefits.

If this is true, then it makes sense that there are no enemy troops stationed in Dezhou and Bozhou, but Guo Ziyi is very cautious. He is worried that this is a strategy of the enemy to lure his troops westward and cut off his logistical supplies in one fell swoop.

However, Guo Ziyi was not in a hurry to attack Tian Chengsi. He had received news that the Regent had led an army of 100,000 to attack Puzhou.

Soon, Xue Wei was led to the city wall. He took a few steps forward, knelt on one knee and saluted, "Greetings, Marshal!"

“How’s Texas doing?”

"There are indeed no troops stationed in Texas. Everything is normal. We asked the county magistrate of Ande County and he said there have never been any troops stationed in Texas."

"Do you have any brothers left in Dezhou now?" Guo Ziyi asked again.

"There are several brothers who will come and inform us immediately if the situation changes."

Guo Ziyi knew the situation in Dezhou. It was Yan Zhenqing's base camp against An Lushan. Officials and civilians were loyal to the court. Although it was massacred by Shi Siming twice, it still did not surrender. It was a place of loyalty and righteousness. Ande County was renovated by Yan Zhenqing and became a solid city, much better than the dilapidated and short Lihe County.

Guo Ziyi immediately ordered his deputy general Ma Lin to lead an army of 10,000 as the vanguard, while he led an army of 90,000 and 20,000 camels, driving 200,000 sheep, and marched towards Ande County, 150 miles away.

Tian Chengsi certainly knew that 100,000 Tang troops appeared on the north bank of the Yellow River, but at that time Tian Chengsi was dealing with a difficult matter.

Li Na led 15,000 men across the Yellow River and headed north, directly into Bozhou. After massacring Boping County, he burned and killed his way into Jizhou and occupied the big city of Xindu County.

Li Na threatened that if the 10,000 Zibo-Qing troops in the coalition army were not returned to him, he would rush into Weizhou and turn the place upside down with blood flowing like a river.

Tian Chengsi was in a great trouble. Li Na's army had completely disrupted his plan. Tian Chengsi had no choice but to send 3,000 pigs and sheep to stabilize Li Na, and quickly ordered the coalition army to march north to Jizhou. He personally led 40,000 troops to march into Jizhou, and notified Li Baochen to send 30,000 troops south.

A total of 120,000 troops surrounded Xindu County, preparing to wipe out Li Na.

It was in Xindu County that Tian Chengsi received the news that 100,000 Tang troops had occupied Dezhou.

This made Tian Chengsi really embarrassed. There were no soldiers in Xiangzhou, Bozhou, or Beizhou. Only his old nest, Yuancheng, Weizhou, had 10,000 troops stationed there, led by his eldest son Tian Wei.

As soon as Guo Ziyi's army arrived in Dezhou, an intelligence spy who came from Yuancheng County, Weizhou asked to see Guo Ziyi.

Guo Ziyi quickly sent his personal soldiers to bring the intelligence spy up.

"I am a spy from Weizhou, and I am here to report the situation on the orders of Chief Steward Wang. Something very important has happened!"

The intelligence spy took out a piece of intelligence and presented it to Guo Ziyi. The news in it surprised Guo Ziyi. Tian Chengsi's army was actually besieging Li Na in Xindu County in Jizhou. Weizhou currently had only 10,000 troops.

Unexpectedly, Li Na not only failed to become Tian Chengsi's subordinate, but also disrupted Hebei. Now is the opportunity!
At this time, another soldier came to report, "General, the head of the Cui family in Qinghe County sent someone to see you."

Guo Ziyi nodded, "Please let him in!"

Guo Ziyi asked the intelligence spy to go down and rest first. Not long after, a scholar in his forties hurried over.

He bowed and saluted, saying, "My name is Cui Ling. I was a Jinshi in the first year of Tianbao. I was originally the chief officer of Beizhou. I didn't want to follow the bandits, so I resigned and stayed at home. Now I am here to see the old general on the order of the head of the family!"

Guo Ziyi nodded, "You are the brother of the Imperial Counselor Cui Shijun!"

"Exactly! I am his younger brother."

The Counselor Cui Shijun is Cui Huan, the former prime minister. The current head of the Cui family is his second brother Cui Ze.

Guo Ziyi took the letter and read it carefully. It turned out that after Li Na's army massacred Boping County, they immediately went north to Beizhou and prepared to rob Qinghe County. The Cui family called on 10,000 Qinghe men to go to the city to defend it. Li Na had no siege weapons, so he let Qinghe County go and continued to go north to Jizhou.

Now there is not a single soldier left in Beizhou, and the Cui family is still in fear. They beg the Tang army to head north to Beizhou immediately.

Guo Ziyi pondered for a moment. Although the Regent had ordered him not to act rashly, the situation was changing rapidly and he had to seize this opportunity.

Guo Ziyi immediately divided his troops into three groups. He ordered his deputy general Ma Lin to lead 30,000 troops to attack Weizhou, ordered his general Wei Ran to lead 10,000 troops to defend Ande County, and he led 60,000 troops to attack Beizhou.

At the same time, he sent his men to Puzhou to report the latest situation in Hebei to Regent Li Ye.

(End of this chapter)