The Infinite Heavens Run Away

249 Chapter 7.5
Chapter 7 I forged the soul of Han in the Three Kingdoms
7.5 Leaving Beijing and taking office, Zhang Liao is in good hands

Facts have proved that the efficiency of this era is even worse than Deng Feng's worst imagination. Even if he went to the palace every now and then to "supervise" the Queen, plus the third time he gave Zhang Rang a confession, it was not until Deng Feng received it. When the letter of appointment was issued, it was already more than two months later.

Of course, before receiving the certificate, you must meet with the nominal boss and leader of the Han Empire, His Majesty the Han Ling Emperor.The specific process was skipped. Anyway, Deng Feng never wanted to recall it again, because his performance at that time must have been disgusting.

Now that he was about to leave, he decided to extend his gratitude and respect to His Majesty the Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty to the Queen.

"Mr. Deng, you'd better not give this palace a chance, or else this palace will definitely destroy your nine clans, and the kind that kills the nine clans will not be left behind." After calling "Daddy" and "Master" many times, Empress He felt weak Attempt to kill Deng Feng with his eyes.

"Your Majesty, you must be conscientious when speaking, I have worked very hard to serve you!" Deng Feng looked aggrieved.

"The Xun You you recommended is very good. My brother specially sent someone to express his gratitude to me." Seeing that the conversation could no longer go on, Queen He had to change the topic.

"Xun You? Although he is two years older, he is actually Xun Yu's nephew. In comparison, Xun Yu should be better.

Moreover, Yingchuan was not far from the east. In more than two months, the uncle and nephew would have crawled over. Why was it only Xun You? "Deng Feng actually understood the bullshit in the middle, but he still asked deliberately.

"Xun Yu said that his parents were here and he would not travel far away. He used the excuse of being filial in front of the court and thanking the general for his wrong love." Of course Queen He didn't know this, so her tone of voice was filled with anger.

"Unfortunately, the power of the Xun family is not small, even the general should be more polite. But at least Xun You is here, and if he uses it well, he can achieve great things." Even if you want to sue, you should know how to stop it.

"Hmph!" Facts have proved that the effect of Diao Zhuang is good. In fact, the He family brothers and sisters are not dissatisfied with the aristocratic family for a day or two. "Sooner or later, these noble families will want them to look good!"

"At least in the short term, we have no choice." Deng Feng was unable to do anything about it, at least for now.

Even at the end of the original book, in fact, none of these powerful families suffered any harm, but took advantage of the chaos in the world to further expand their power, so that the entire two Jin Dynasties were rotten and there was nothing left on the stage.

The Western Jin Dynasty can be said to be a bit better, and it can be regarded as a "grand unification". No matter how bad the essence is, at least it can occupy a large area.

The Eastern Jin Dynasty was even more straightforward. From its birth to its demise, the Sima family was only glamorous in front of the stage. Even the founding emperor Sima Rui left a jingle that "the king and the horse share the world", let alone the more unbearable successors behind.

Under this situation, Deng Feng would definitely not say much. Even if he wanted to kill them all, he would wait until he had enough strength in his hands.Just like a line from a cast member in the movie "Tai Chi Zhang Sanfeng", "Whoever has a knife in his hand can speak loudly."

"This Xun You is pretty easy to use. It has helped my elder brother a lot. During this period of time, my eldest brother's life has become much better."

"Xu Zhu hasn't come yet, but Xu Huang has been transferred here. My eldest brother said that it would be too unfair to only let him be the commander of the army."

"Then make good use of it. I remember that there are several big camps around the capital, right? The general controls where, and handed it over to Xu Gongming. Without a reliable army in his hand, the good days of the general may not last long."

It would be best to make his fight with Han Ling Emperor more lively, so that if he causes trouble in the Shangdang, it will be fine as long as he doesn't go too far.

"I think so too." Queen He showed a satisfied look, "As for the Shen Pei and Ju Shou you mentioned later, only Ju Shou agreed to come over, but Shen Pei refused. The reason is that he is filial to the court and does not want to stay away."

"The two are not far apart, and they may have discussed it." Deng Feng was actually not sure about this. No matter how good his memory was, he couldn't remember all the details. Living is normal.

It's just a private stab to add some trouble. Anyway, these two will be with Yuan Shao, or the Yuan family, in the future. If He Jin finds out, they can continue to cause trouble for the Yuan family - no, it seems that when Yuan Shao rises, He Jin will Jin is dead?

Never mind, it was just a casual move, so let it be.

"It seems that the people you recommended are all good, and they are indeed giving their best." Queen He was quite satisfied with this. "What about you, why don't you stay and help me? At least it will be better than running to the frontier alone. , how about starting from scratch?"

"Because I also want to one day be able to be one person under ten thousand people." Deng Feng did not hide his ambition, but he still said it a little tactfully, "Following the general really started quickly, but in the future I am afraid it will be difficult to really Get to the top."

"You are quite thoughtful." Queen He was not too surprised. It is really strange that a person who dared to sneak into the palace with his personal martial arts skills and sleep with the queen countless times would be petty.

"Well, this time you come to Shangdang. Brother hopes to get some iron goods. I remember that there is no shortage in Bingzhou. Xu Huang is indeed a talent, but he consumes too much in training."

"It's very difficult, at least I won't be able to get it within a year." Deng Feng did not directly confirm, "You know, the benefits of salt and iron have always been accompanied by blood. I have just joined the Party, and if I dare to do it, I am afraid I will not survive. A year or two.”

"Don't be anxious, at least in two or three years, you can keep up with gritted teeth." Queen He nodded in approval of Deng Feng's meaning, "But you must show your worth as soon as possible, otherwise my eldest brother has never been a patient person. "

"Understood." The butcher's impatience was reflected many times in the original work, and he was killed in the end, mostly because he was too arrogant and too impatient.

At that time, both Chen Lin and Cao Cao advised him to be careful, but the general sternly refuted them, and even suspected that they had other purposes, so they all left in anger, and then they entered the palace confidently, and then never again. return.

"What do you mean, everything has been arranged in the capital?" Queen He asked seemingly casually.

"Actually, there is nothing to arrange. I don't have even a little foundation here. I just need to bring my four family members with me. Now it will take another three to five days to go through the official procedures. Once it is done, I will go to the district to attend the party. ." Deng Feng chose to tell the truth.

Originally, she thought about leaving a few people in the capital to do some intelligence work, but after thinking about it for a while, she realized that she can't do anything now. Without a foundation, even if she finds a few subordinates, who knows? Is it reliable?
Even if an intelligence agency is to be established, it will only be done after the Shangdang side has established a firm foothold.

"You mean, you'll be leaving in three to five days?" Queen He's tone was a little strange.

"Yes." Deng Feng didn't pay attention at all.

"That's it." Queen He, who had already rested, turned over and straddled Deng Feng. She adjusted slightly and entered the state. "You have been here to serve me for the past few days."

"Um, the Queen—" Deng Feng hesitated and asked cautiously, "I remember you said that you would kill the nine tribes under me."

"Can I punish your nine tribes later?" Queen He glared impatiently, "What are you waiting for now?"

"Yes, the Queen Mother."

More than half a month later, he arrived at the Shangdang Prefect's Mansion.

"See you Ming Gong." Chen Gong, who had already arrived at the place to stand in front of him, bowed in front of the mansion gate.

"It's hard work on the public platform." Deng Feng smiled and stepped forward to help him up and led him into the lobby. Then he asked, "How is the situation here?"

"Not very good." Chen Gong showed a rare helpless smile.

"Huh? Is it so serious?" Deng Feng was somewhat puzzled. "Although there were a lot of problems when I came here, at least it is close to the capital and Sili, so the people can still survive."

"Let's talk about your most important thing first, the army." Chen Gong stopped talking nonsense and went straight to the point, "There are actually less than 1000 people in the county army battalion, and most of them are old, weak, sick and disabled.

There are only a symbolic number of less than half a hundred cavalry, and less than half of the horses are not good horses, and the rest are simply poor horses, and the food and grass in the treasury are not enough for a month. "

"So, my predecessor has left nothing that can be taken away? No wonder no one came to hand over." Deng Feng nodded to understand that this is actually a matter of money.

"Let's talk about the aristocratic families. The biggest here is the Zhang family of Shangdang. They had already set their sights on the position of county governor. They were planning to arrange it for Zhang Yang, an elite member of the family. Unfortunately, he was overtaken by Ming Gong." Chen Gong didn't have anything to say about this. good idea.

"That is to say, in a short period of time, no big clan will cooperate with us?" Deng Feng began to have a headache.Although he also hates the family very much, there is nothing he can do in a short period of time. Now it is the initial stage, and a few collaborators are needed, even if it is to share some pork, at least to gain a firm foothold.

"No, the Zhang family can't control the sky with one hand in Bingzhou. At least the other rich family, the Ding family, doesn't care about them." Chen Gong investigated very carefully.

"That's good. After we have trained the army, we will wipe them out at worst." As long as there are still partners, Deng Feng will have plenty of gold.

"Let's talk about bandits and bandits." Chen Gong's expression became even more ugly when he said this, "In recent years, people's lives have been difficult, and many people have chosen to become bandits. Now that Shangdang is not far from the capital, the situation is even better.

The big bandits only have two shares, and the small ones have more than a dozen shares. Horse thieves are almost rampant in other places in Bingzhou, and even the big families may not buy them. "

"It's okay. When our army is about to train, it's just a good time to take them out. It can not only achieve the effect of military training, but also gain fame, and maybe even get a good harvest. It can be said to kill three birds with one stone."

Deng Feng really didn't care about these little miscellaneous fish, he could wipe out these dozens of small groups of bandits and bandits himself if he was in a hurry.

"Ming Gong said it lightly!" Chen Gong was not so optimistic.

"Don't worry, I have plenty of money. As long as the army is established, everything else will be easy. Speaking of money, how are the taxes here?" Deng Feng comforted him with a smile.

"It's acceptable. Except for the part handed over to the court, there is no problem with the remaining money and food to support the army according to Duke Ming's plan. It's just that a few wealthy families are very good at evading taxes." Chen Gong could only continue helplessly.

"It would be really weird if these aristocratic families didn't evade taxes." Deng Feng was talking about these aristocratic families, but what he was thinking of was the civil servants who committed suicide in the late Ming Dynasty.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, more than 9% of the land in the entire country fell into the hands of less than [-]% of the landowners, and most of them used their identities as meritorious scholars to "contribute" without paying a penny of taxes.

The collection of commercial taxes has basically disappeared, because most large businessmen have civil service backgrounds; the salt tax has basically collapsed, or cannot be collected; the collection of tea taxes is even more ridiculous. The tea tax in a province can make "one year" Dozens of taels" anecdote.

Almost all the royal court's income in the world is spent on less than [-]% of the remaining land.

The problem is that these lands still have to feed more than [-]% of the poor population, hundreds of millions of people. Coupled with droughts, floods and locust plagues during the Little Ice Age, multiple invasions by the Qing Dynasty, etc., Emperor Chongzhen was eventually sent to the crooked neck tree in Meishan.

To be honest, there were many reasons for the collapse of the Ming Dynasty, but the collapse of national income was definitely one of the most important reasons.

The most fundamental reason for the collapse of income is that the upper class of society does not pay taxes. This was even more obvious during the Li Zicheng uprising and the Manchu Qing's entry into the customs.

Li Zicheng invaded the capital, tortured all the officials and wealthy people, and finally made a terrifying income of 7000 million taels. After the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, they swept across the Yangtze River, killing anyone who dared not pay taxes, and soon the tax revenue reached tens of millions. two.

In the so-called "Heyday of Kangxi and Qianlong", it was more than 3000 million taels, and in the late Qing Dynasty it reached hundreds of millions of silver dollars. These aliens didn't care about the bullshit of "competing with the people for profit". Under the butcher's knife, their income immediately rose rapidly.

The end of the Eastern Han Dynasty was similar. One of the important reasons why Emperor Han Ling bought and sold official titles was that the Eastern Han court had no money, let alone for his squandering enjoyment.

What to do if you have no money?Make money. The most popular "goods" in the hands of emperors are official positions at all levels. If you sell them, won't you make money?

Fortunately, Deng Feng is not short of money. Five cubic meters of gold is equivalent to nearly 300 million taels. In addition, gold and silver are still scarce items in this era, and the currency value is much higher than that in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Moreover, the population at this time was not as terrifying as tens of millions or hundreds of millions, so arable land was relatively abundant and food prices were not too outrageous.Taking all aspects into account, Deng Feng's plan to raise thousands of elite soldiers was a big deal. It was nothing more than a matter of time.

"It's easy to say, but I don't know how Duke Ming is going to solve this problem?" Chen Gong didn't know what to say, but asked out of professional ethics.

"Simple, when my army is well trained, I will find an excuse to slaughter a few small families with the worst reputation and poor strength. On the one hand, I will replenish money and food, and on the other hand, I will kill chickens for monkeys to see. But how do you say this?" It will have to wait until a year later.”

Deng Feng had no intention of hiding anything, he just told his plan so directly.

"Your Majesty." Since he doesn't take it seriously, what does your subordinate have to worry about? Chen Gong could only change the subject, "I have one more thing to tell you. Two young generals have been waiting at the Prefect's Mansion for a long time. , saying that he was appointed here by the imperial court."

"Oh?" Deng Feng's eyes lit up, "What are they called?"

"A handsome-looking tall man named Zhang Liao, with the courtesy name Wenyuan; a slightly shorter but more solid man named Gao Shun, without a pseudonym." Although he was surprised by Deng Feng's attitude, Chen Gong decided not to So many questions.

"Very good, let's go to the barracks tomorrow and take the two of them with us." Deng Feng nodded in satisfaction, but he didn't know when Wenpin and Huang Zhong would arrive.

Seeing that it was already afternoon, Deng Feng met the two future famous generals in the lobby.

I won’t go into the specific process. Anyway, at this time, the two of them were nothing. Zhang Liao still had the title of village chief (who managed about 50 people), and Gao Shun was just an ordinary person, basically useless.

In this case, Deng Feng, as the prefect, even if he was a bought prefect, especially when Deng Feng's skill was completely inhuman, he easily subdued the two of them. Now they call Deng Feng "" "Lord" instead of Chen Gong's "Ming Gong".

"Come, come, Gongtai, Wenyuan, Honglin (Gao Shun's pseudonym), you're welcome, feel free to take a seat, you will be my right-hand man from now on, it's still early for us to deal with each other."

According to the consistent Chinese tradition, now that we already know each other, it is natural to open a table and have a good exchange of feelings.Although Wang Yue also followed with more than a dozen disciples, and was titled as the commander of personal soldiers, he was actually a servant and was not qualified to sit at the table.

"Thank you Lord (Ming Gong)!"*3.

After three rounds of wine and five flavors of food, Chen Gong still had nothing to eat. Gao Shun and Zhang Liao were obviously still young and couldn't hold it in any longer. They looked at each other from time to time.

"Lord, I wonder when we can go to the military camp to have a look?" In the end, Zhang Liao was the first to speak.

"There's no rush, we'll go tomorrow." Deng Feng took a sip of the best wine Shangdang could buy, but could only frown and swallow it - it was too unpleasant to drink.

"Why is this?" Gao Shun couldn't help but ask, but Chen Gong smiled and remained silent.

"I just came today, and they probably don't know or have just found out. Now it's just a raid. Maybe they will be at a loss. Although many problems will be exposed, if the problem is too small, it will not be easy for me to deal with it.

So I gave them a night to arrange it. When the time comes, who is in favor and who is against, and what happens should be clearly arranged, and it happens to be resolved together. "Deng Feng didn't hide anything from these three subordinates who were regarded as confidantes.

"Ming Gong's advice!" Chen Gong had obviously seen the problem, but he didn't say anything just now.

"This" Zhang Liao thought about it and decided to ask, "What if they come together to cause trouble?"

"What kind of crime should we do if we disrespect our superiors by causing trouble in the army?" Chen Gong knew the current affairs and became a villain.

"If the situation is minor, just reprimand. If it's severe, just whip or use a military stick." Zhang Liao hesitated for a moment and then said it.

"If necessary, you can also behead someone in public!" Chen Gong added lightly what Zhang Liao didn't say.

Zhang Liao and Gao Shun looked at Chen Gong subconsciously, feeling a little cold.

PS: The military system of the Han Dynasty was relatively complicated, and the information handed down was relatively confusing, and there was no very specific data compiled. The author here combined it based on various materials, and this article shall prevail.

(End of this chapter)