I, Liu Bian, Sanxing Han Dynasty

Chapter 486 Undercurrent
"In the pre-Qin period, King Anxi of Wei ceded land to Qin in exchange for peace. Su Dai advised the king, 'To serve Qin with land is like trying to put out a fire with firewood. If the firewood is not exhausted, the fire will not go out.' How is the situation today different from that time?"

"In recent years, the emperor first suppressed the powerful in the name of official administration, then won over the people with the tax system, and now he wants to re-measure the land. Step by step, he is getting more and more greedy."

"Yes, as you said, my Yuan family does not lack these land rents, even if the hidden land and population are recorded in the official register. But what about the future? Wei served Qin with its land, but was eventually destroyed by Qin. Today it is land, tomorrow who knows if it will not be salt and iron slaves?"

"The profits from the salt and iron business in the prefectures and the profits from the mining and weaving of slaves and servants. Without these two, do you think you can still maintain your current extravagant life?"

Yuan Shu looked at Yuan Ji who had come to him. Facing Yuan Ji's questioning, he instinctively retorted: "In these years, I have never heard the emperor mention the matter of salt fields."

Yuan Ji had come prepared. He sneered, "Just because you haven't heard the emperor mention it doesn't mean he doesn't have this idea. Before August this year, how many people would really believe that your majesty would re-measure the land this year? Moreover, Emperor Xiaozhang had strongly advocated that the salt and iron industry be restored to government ownership. How can we know that the current emperor will not follow suit in the future?"

Yuan Shu was silent for a moment. He knew that Yuan Ji was telling the truth. After being cut off from food by Yuan Wei, he had indeed learned a lot in this regard.

But he has never been the type to accept things passively. Even if it is unreasonable, he will fight for the point. How can he be willing to show weakness to Yuan Ji, who is inferior to him in every aspect?

Yuan Shu said: "What's the point of you saying this now? Land surveying is a big deal, no one can stop it!"

"It's not that we want to try to stop a chariot with a mantis arm, but we can't let the land be too smooth." Yuan Ji explained.

Yuan Shu immediately understood what Yuan Ji meant. He looked at Yuan Ji and asked word by word, "Do you know that if your words today get out, the entire clan will be implicated by you?"

"You and I are brothers. My clan is your clan. Do you want to kill your relatives for the sake of justice?" Yuan Ji asked in return.

Upon hearing this, Yuan Shu was so angry that he stood up, drew the sword from his waist, pointed it at Yuan Ji and said, "Well, it seems that I underestimated you. In recent years, you have been staying at home and rarely go out. I thought you had given up those unrealistic ideas like your uncle... I didn't expect that you would keep a low profile."

"I'm just reminding you not to forget that in recent years, the School Affairs Department has had many eyes and ears, especially in Luoyang and the official residences."

"You must know that the mouth can cause trouble, don't wait until it's too late to regret it!"

"No need to worry about that, Gonglu." Yuan Ji also stood up and stretched out his hand to push away the sword pointed at him by Yuan Shu. "After all, I am the next clan leader."

Although Yuan Shu no longer pointed his sword at Yuan Ji, when he talked about the land measurement, he sneered and asked Yuan Ji: "Have you ever said this to Yuan Benchu?"

"He has been trying very hard during this period! There was a county magistrate named Zhao Yan who, when measuring the land, compared the population and land area counted by the township officials. Those who ranked last in the list and had hidden households and hidden land in the areas under his jurisdiction were all punished for incompetence. After hearing about this law, Yuan Benchu ​​could not wait to promote it. Originally, Zhao Yan's punishment was just a beating, and the most serious case was dismissal on the spot, but Yuan Benchu ​​would send people to exile at will!"

Even Yuan Shu felt that this method was a bit too harsh. And he thought so not because he envied Yuan Shao's method of supervising minor officials.

"Yuan Benchu..." Hearing this name, Yuan Ji felt helpless.

After being forced to sacrifice Yuan Shao's future, Yuan Shao was quite dissatisfied with them. Although he is now in Luoyang, he has lost contact with them.

In fact, if the Yuan family had surrendered to the emperor at that time, there was a great possibility that Yuan Shao could have been saved, but these are all things that were said after the fact.

Yuan Shu put away his sword and said, "I will consider what you said. I will not see you off when you leave!"

After saying that, he was the first to leave the house.

Under the warm winter sun, Yuan Shu's mood calmed down a little.

He glanced down at the gorgeous robe he was wearing.

Did Yuan Gonglu have to give in for money? Thinking of his poor life after he was short of money, he was a little hesitant.

Xiyuan Army.

After Huang Zhong led his troops away, the originally bustling military camp became much quieter.

The remaining three captains - Jian Shuo, Feng Fang, and Xia Mou - are all veterans of Xiyuan and old acquaintances who stayed behind.

On the second day after seeing off Huang Zhong and others, several brothers in distress gathered in Jian Shuo's tent without any prior arrangement.

Pan Yin, a eunuch and military commander under Jian Shuo, was also among those who stayed behind.

He said with some regret: "Jiujiang County has made such a great contribution, I only regret that I can't go there in person and miss it."

Feng Fang comforted him by saying, "If I get it, I'm lucky. If I lose it, it's my fate."

As the son-in-law of Cao Jie, Feng Fang has always been close to eunuchs. He got this captain position with the help of eunuchs. Unlike Jian Shuo and Pan Yin who have never really led troops in battle, when Huangfu Song fought to pacify Liangzhou, he and Xia Mou, after being trained by Zhu Jun, had rushed to the battlefield in the middle of the war - although the two did not show much talent in leading troops on the battlefield of Liangzhou.

After actually going to the battlefield, Feng Fang felt that it was actually quite good to stay in the Xiyuan military camp to guard the emperor.

Especially at this time when the power of eunuchs has been greatly weakened.

Pan Yin lowered his eyes, hiding his dissatisfaction with Feng Fang.

Suddenly Xia Mu said, "I just regret that I am incompetent and cannot be entrusted with important matters!"

Although he said he was incompetent, his tone - Pan Yin looked at Xia Mou and comforted him, "The captain has been in the army for a long time and is a man of both civil and military talents. He just hasn't encountered an opportunity to display his talents yet."

But Xia Mou, the person involved, obviously did not feel that he was comforted. He said dejectedly: "We have been staying in the military camp for many years. Where can we get the opportunity?"

"It's just training the troops."

Jian Shuo knew that if someone went to war, someone would definitely stay behind, and he also knew that these people who stayed behind must be dissatisfied.

Because he also dreamed of being granted a title of nobility and having his sons inherit the throne through his military achievements.

It was just a few complaints. They were all acquaintances, so he didn't want to take it too seriously.

Everyone present started talking one after another. Anyway, there were only about a thousand people left in Xiyuan, and they really had nothing to do.

After a long time, several people said goodbye and left.

Seeing that these generals were in a bad mood, Jian Shuo simply asked them to go home and rest, leaving himself in charge of the army.

Xia Mou had just left the barracks when he heard a voice shouting, "Captain, I suddenly want to have some wine tonight, but I have no one to accompany me. I wonder if you are free?"

Although Pan Yin was a eunuch, he had a good relationship with Xia Mou. Xia Mou also considered that Pan Yin was highly valued by Jian Shuo. He thought that one of the main reasons why he was not given a high position was that he had no one above him, so he responded, "Let's go together!"

(End of this chapter)