Tiantang

Chapter 267 Although I am thin, the world must be fat

Chapter 274 Although I am thin, the world must be fat
Zhang Xuan fell silent upon hearing this.

He knew very well that what these immigrants said was not unreasonable.The frontier is different from the inland.Half of the income of farmers in the fields has to be handed over to the military rations to support tens of thousands of soldiers and horses; in addition, they have to pay a large amount of taxes to the court, and after layers of exploitation, naturally there is not much income.

Presumably this is the key to this group of immigrants taking the opportunity to make trouble.

It is its purpose to want the imperial court to reduce or exempt taxes and tribute to military rations.

It's just that if they didn't meet Zhang Xuan, a traveler from modern civilized society, this kind of appeal would basically not be taken seriously.Even Zhang Xun, an upright official who loves the power of the people and the common people, will not accept it because of this.

Zhang Xuan cast his clear eyes on Hu Kan, and remained silent for a long time.

That Hu Kan bowed his head slightly, he seemed calm, but in fact he was still a little uneasy.Gathering crowds to cause trouble and threatening King Pingxi is a serious crime. If Zhang Xuan is slightly dissatisfied, his life will be lost.As long as they kill more than a dozen of them, under the pressure of the army, the incident will naturally subside, and these immigrants will still go to Liangning Prefecture to farm and open up wasteland.

If he hadn't heard that when he was in Lingzhou, Zhang Xuan loved the people like his own son, was harsh to officials and soldiers, and generous to the people and always practiced benevolent government, Hu Kan would definitely not have the courage to do so.

Zhang Xuan got up slowly and strode over.

He walked up to Hu Kan, bent down, patted the head of the little girl who was lying beside Hu Kan, smiled and said softly, "What's your name, little girl?"

The girl shrank her head in fear, her thin body trembling a little.

Hu Kan was taken aback, and tremblingly said, "Returning to the lord, this is a grass-roots girl named Huan Niang."

"Hehe, Huanniang, what a good name. Little girl, come, come to this king, don't be afraid, this king is here, no one will dare to hurt you." Zhang Xuan squatted there, and waved to the girl with a smile.

Hu Huanniang is only a seven or eight-year-old girl, and it is rare to be able to accompany her father without crying on such occasions.But she was a child after all, and although she had a bit of courage, she was still in awe of Zhang Xuan, a high official, and did not dare to approach him.

Zhang Xuan's smile became stronger, and he continued to speak in harmony patiently, "Don't be afraid, Huan Niang, come to me, this king will ask you a few words."

Na Huanniang slowly raised her head, looked at Zhang Xuan's smiling face with some fear, and hesitated a little.

Everyone present, whether it was the representatives of the people like Hu Kan or the soldiers like Li Tan and Nan Jiyun, couldn't understand why Zhang Xuan suddenly had the leisure to put down the majesty and airs of King Pingxi to seduce a girl.

Hu Kan gently squeezed his daughter's little hand, and looked at her encouragingly.

On the one hand, he saw that Zhang Xuan had no malicious intentions, and on the other hand, he was worried that he would offend Zhang Xuan, which would eventually lead to disaster.

Huan Niang hesitated, walked over slowly, raised her face and was about to say something, but was hugged by Zhang Xuan.

Startled, Huanniang struggled a few times, but seeing Zhang Xuan's gentle expression, she slowly relaxed.

Zhang Xuan hugged Huanniang with one hand, waved the other hand, and said loudly, "Wait, get up and talk."

Zhang Xuan hugged Huan Niang, walked up to Hu Kan and the others, and said loudly, "Immigrants bring burdens and pressures to the common people. I know this very well. I am very worried about laboring people's labor."

"Of course, immigrating to Liangning Prefecture is a big plan of the imperial court. If we don't implement the strategy of military settlements, it will be difficult for us to defend Liangning Prefecture, and the great territory that our soldiers have shed their lives and blood will fall to Tubo again. Therefore, for the sake of the overall situation of the whole country, we can only wrong everyone."

"In order to reduce the burden on the people, this king has been unable to sleep at night recently, and he is exhausted." Zhang Xuan smiled softly, "Well, let's go back to appease the people first, and continue to march to Liangning Prefecture. This king promises you, within three days, The Metropolitan Government will issue a decree to relieve the burden of the people. This is my king's promise, and I will never break my word!"

Zhang Xuan looked back at Huanniang and smiled, and took out a token from his bosom, "Huanniang, this is my king's token, please take it well. If my king breaks his promise in three days, you can hold this token." Bring your father to the Hezhou government office to find me with a token!"

Perhaps it was because of Zhang Xuan's continuous gentle attitude that Huanniang was greatly relaxed, the sense of awe gradually subsided, and the innocence and romance of a child was replaced. She raised her face and said crisply, "The prince will not lie to Huanniang, will he?"

Zhang Xuan laughed, "This king keeps his word, so don't worry Huanniang."

Huanniang innocently stretched out a finger, "Pull the hook!"

"Okay, hook!"

"Pull the hook and get on the sedan chair, and don't change it for 100 years! If it changes, the prince will become a tiger!" Huanniang's innocent and childish voice echoed in the field, and everyone couldn't help but smile.

Li Tanze's eyes shone with a strange brilliance. This scene made him see another side of Zhang Xuan's soft and simple character.If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would never have imagined that the always strong and majestic Governor of Longshuo, King Pingxi, and powerful minister Zhang Xuan would have such tender feelings.

Hu Kan and others were moved to tears.

Watching Hu Kan take Huan Niang's little hand and slowly leave, Huan Niang turned her head to look at Zhang Xuan, shaking her little hand, Zhang Xuan smiled and said nothing.

Hua Nu'er stood by his side and said softly, "This girl is so smart and so pitiful!"

Perhaps in the eyes of others, Zhang Xuan's actions may have a taste of a superior showing off to fool the people, but Hua Nuer, who is getting to know him more and more, knows that Zhang Xuan is not pretending at all.

At the very least, this girl Huan Niang really attracted Zhang Xuan's liking.

"Yeah, it's not easy for such a small child to not cry or fuss in this situation." Zhang Xuan smiled lightly, looked back at Li Tan and cupped his hands, "Your Highness, let's enter Hezhou Let's go to the city."

"Okay." Li Tan stood up.

……

……

The immigrant riots subsided, and no force was used to suppress them, only a few words from Zhang Xuan.After a while, the immigration team continued to move forward spontaneously, the congested official road was cleared, and Zhang Xuan led the team to continue until outside the city of Hezhou.

Li Guangbi, who had rushed over early, brought Zuo Cheng out with a group of officials from the Governor's Mansion of Hezhou in fear. He was secretly relieved when he didn't see Zhang Xuan furious.

The immigrant riots, this kind of thing can be big or small, if Zhang Xuan insists on it, it means that the officials of the Hefang Governor's Mansion are not doing their job effectively, and Li Guangbi, the military and political official, can even be held accountable.

Li Guangbi and others welcomed Zhang Xuan and Li Tan into the city and entered the prefect's office in Hezhou.

Zhang Xuan sat behind the table in the lobby, while Li Tan set up another seat to listen as usual.

After sitting down, the smile on Zhang Xuan's face suddenly faded, and he stood up and looked around at Li Guangbi and other civil servants and generals of the Governor's Mansion, and said in a deep voice, "Li Guangbi, the people have reported to this king that the settlement expenses and rations have been exploited and deducted layer by layer. You must find out as soon as possible. No matter who is involved, they will be punished severely! Those who commit serious crimes will be killed without pardon!"

Zhang Xuan's voice was stern, Li Guangbi's heart trembled, he hurried out of the line and replied respectfully, "Yes, the general will obey!"

"In addition, this king is planning to implement a policy of immigration relief - those who immigrate to Liangning Prefecture will have to pay half of the land they acquire to pay military rations. If you become an official, you will receive less than a thousand papers and miscellaneous corvees a year."

"Taxes are generous, punishments are light, and the people are prosperous..." Zhang Xuan waved his hand indifferently, "Only in this way can Liangning Prefecture be prosperous and stable in the shortest time. Otherwise, the people will feel uneasy if they don't get benefits. Then Liangning Prefecture will be unstable."

Li Guangbi and other officials of the Governor's Mansion of Hefang, Zuo Wenyan, couldn't help being startled, and then frowned.

Exemption from taxes is fine, anyway, most of the taxes collected have to be handed over to the imperial treasury; but the military rations are halved, which directly affects the long-term garrison of [-] soldiers and horses in Liangning Prefecture.To govern the army in the frontier fortress, food and grass are the first priority. If you can't even eat enough, how can you guard the border with peace of mind?
No one dared to say anything, but Li Guangbi gritted his teeth and said softly, "Commander, please forgive me for being so bold--exemption from taxation for six years is already a great grace. Tens of thousands of troops are hard to sustain in Liangning Prefecture, please think again, Commander!"

Zhang Xuan smiled, "Guangbi, this king intends to let the troops of Liangning prefectures take turns to garrison, half of them guarding the border, and half of them open up farms to participate in the construction of Liangning prefectures. The rotation is once every three months. Do it yourself to have enough food and clothing. If war breaks out, then The whole army has been restored."

Li Guangbi was speechless for a while, and could not say anything more.

Zhang Xuan's words were all about this, obviously he had already made up his mind.Although Li Guangbi felt a little disapproving, he could no longer refute in person.He was going to look for Zhang Xuan again in private—the [-] soldiers and horses in the hometown of Tuyuhun were not enough to defend the entire Tubo army.

"Everyone, the power of the people is the foundation of the country. When the power of the people is strong, the country is strong, and there is no room for slack in recuperating the power of the people. If tyranny is implemented and people's grievances accumulate for a long time, internal troubles will continue..." Zhang Xuan looked around the crowd with clear eyes, and said indifferently, "I am an official. Those who miss the people's hardships every day, even if they can't love the people like their own sons, they still need to face up to the sufferings of the people!"

"The emperor once said that although I am thin, the world will be fat. We hold the power of the court, and the people's livelihood depends on us. If we can't do our best to walk on thin ice, the people will complain about the chaos in the world. In order to reduce the pressure on people's livelihood, from today , the king decided to implement the alcohol restriction order, and all the prefectures and counties in Longshuo will reduce the grain for wine making by half... The wind of drinking and enjoying consumes a lot of food, it is really deplorable!"

"This alcohol restriction order will last for two years. The king will not interfere with the drinking of the common people, but those of us who live on the court's salary should set an example and set an example. From now on, from now on, all officials and generals in Longshuo who are below me Drinking and having fun is strictly prohibited, and any unnecessary banquets shall be cancelled."

"If this king can do it, you must do it." Zhang Xuan's voice was passionate, waving his arms, showing a determined look on his face.

He has long been dissatisfied with Datang's extravagant and wasteful style of drinking and enjoying, and now he has the opportunity to take advantage of the opportunity to stop this bad trend.Not to mention completely banning alcohol, how much food can be saved by reducing the current consumption of alcohol by half?

He can't control the drinking of ordinary people, and he can't control it; but it can still be done by suppressing the drinking of officials.

(End of this chapter)