Liu Xin was suspicious. Now that the world has been closed for the past few years, there is no turmoil in the world. What urgent items can the court send, and hurriedly ordered: "Come here by express."
After he read the urgent letter from beginning to end, he couldn't help laughing, and then handed it to Jushou, saying, "It's really just dozing off and someone will give you a pillow. Gongyou, take a good look. This charge is not being sent to the door. come yet?"
Han Opera also leaned forward, read the urgent letter, and quickly said to Liu Xin: "Congratulations to the lord, in this way, the teacher is famous!"
Jushou also said happily: "According to the urgent requirements, as long as you plan properly, everything is out of the public heart. Compared with revenge, this realm is so different!"
Liu Xin stood up and said decisively: "Gongyou and Zhicai, you two will work hard. Use this time to make good plans. After the first month, I will use soldiers. This time I will The problem is solved together!"
Jushou and Han Opera also responded excitedly in unison: "Subordinates follow the order!"
It turned out that the world had returned to peace, and the prefects of the counties also paid taxes to Beijing one after another, but after all, only a small number of people were able to pay taxes in full. Liu Hong, who was greedy for money, was very dissatisfied when he saw this. He wondered how to make the payment in various places, so he gave the task to his most trusted Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong. Zhang Rang was responsible for collecting taxes from the north, and Zhao Zhong was in charge. Collect taxes in the South.
Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong were originally wearing a pair of trousers. They were favored in front of Liu Hong at the same time. One was called a father by Liu Hong, and the other was called a mother by Liu Hong. Their status was originally equal. Later, Zhang Rang did a few things very beautifully, which made Liu Honglong look happy, and gradually his position in Liu Hong's mind was higher than that of Zhao Zhong. The collection of taxes this time is a beautiful thing, but the North is relatively richer than the South, which means that the place where Zhang Rang is assigned is better than that of Zhao Zhong. It can be seen from this that the position of the two people has happened. deviation.
Zhao Zhong didn't find the reason from himself, but took all of this to Liu Xin's head. Because Zhang Rang brought good news to Liu Hong several times when he was most annoyed. It was a help in the snow, and he gained more and more trust from Liu Hong. Almost all of these good news were related to Liu Xin. In addition, Zhao Zhong also heard that Zhang Rang had received countless benefits from Liu Xin, and his eyes became more and more heated.
Zhao Zhong was not stupid. He knew in his heart that in addition to squandering taxes, the prefects of the counties used to increase their own strength. These prefects dared to ignore the imperial government’s orders over and over again, indicating that they have formed a power in the locality, and that power, large or small, needs money to maintain. No matter who comes to collect taxes, the prefects of each county do not. Will be willing to pay for it.
So why do you still say that tax collection is a good deal? Because neither Zhang Rang nor Zhao Zhong thought about actually collecting the tax, they just wanted to take this opportunity to make a big profit. Of course, if you can not only collect taxes, but also fill your pockets, that would be the best. After Liu Hong asked him to collect taxes from the South, Zhao Zhong first thought of Liu Xin. Liu Xin is a Jingzhou animal husbandry, who is supposed to be responsible for the collection of taxes in the prefecture. It is not easy for him to say any reason. As long as he can bring up the tax owed in Jingzhou, he has not received even a copper coin in other places, which is a great achievement. . As for how Liu Xin went to recover the tax debts from the prefects under his administration, it was not a matter for him to consider.
In the past two years, Jingzhou has owed more than 400 million taxes to the court, and Liu Xin asked the prefects for more. Over the years, several prefects intercepted the taxes that were supposed to be handed over to the court, and recruited troops and expanded their strengths. Who would pay the money obediently? If Liu Xin can fight against the prefects and cause both losses, it will make Zhao Zhong feel very happy.
What Zhao Zhong gave Liu Xin this time was an urgent decree that restricted him to hand over all the taxes owed to the court by June next year. Although this is not a sacred decree, the final words are very strong, and they faintly threaten Liu Xin's official position.
The over 400 million tax owed is nothing to Liu Xin. He just read the financial and tax report of the five counties of Jingxiang sent by Jushou a few days ago. Now the assets he can use at any time under his control have reached one hundred and five. A billion, of course, a large part of it comes from the income from the sale of land and shops. Liu Xin didn't want to be extravagant, so he would definitely give the money to the court, but he wouldn't hand it in so readily. If he did not reach out to the prefects of the counties, he would hand in the full amount of taxes owed, and the direct consequence would be Liu Hong's suspicion. The emperor who was greedy for money would definitely have to ask him where he got so much money.
A few days later, Cai Yuan was also exchanged for a yellow shot by Kuai Liang. Liu Xin had already learned about Cai Hao's capture through the Phantom. He was very angry and refused to see him at all. He directly ordered him to think behind closed doors at home.
As the Spring Festival approached, Jingzhou, which was still in crisis just now, seemed to have suddenly regained calm. In order not to stun the snakes, Liu Xin did a good job, deliberately showing off the past and not pursuing it again, and was determined to spend the Spring Festival with peace of mind. Even the court did not reveal the slightest word about the tax debts.
Before the Spring Festival, he took Cai Yan back to his family. The Cai Yong couple was startled at first, because after the woman got married, she couldn't go back to her natal family without special circumstances. But Liu Xin ignored this. The two families are so close. It doesn't matter if they don't go back. Now it's the New Year, and if you don't go back to her family's house, then it's a bit unreasonable. Cai Yong and his wife hadn't seen this baby girl for several months, and they all had tears in their eyes. The old couple was even more ecstatic when they learned that Cai Yan was already pregnant.
On New Year's Eve, Liu Xin first went to the orphanage to condolences the orphans, and then went to the barracks to visit the soldiers on duty, before returning to the mansion to hold various ceremonies.
The Baotian box was placed on the altar again. Cai Yan had heard the magical story about this box a long time ago, and was very interested in the box in front of him that changed Liu Xin's fate. Both Liu Zhong and Liu Jian paid great attention to part of the box in their hands. Women in the family could not touch the box, or even look at it. Now the whole box is in Liu Xin's hands, but he will not abide by this rule, and even if he wants to abide by this rule, Ma Yun will not agree, she can often hold this box in her hand and play with it. Liu Xin remembered that her adoptive father once said that this box was passed from the palace, and it seemed to be used by a concubine to hold jewelry.
Cai Yan asked to take a look, and Liu Xin naturally had no objections and handed it directly to her. The workmanship of the box is very exquisite, Cai Yan held it in his hand and looked at it repeatedly without speaking.
Liu Xin smiled and said: "It's just a box, look at what you are doing so carefully. If it hadn't been handed down by the foster father, I would have given it to you for your jewelry."
Cai Yan said suddenly, "My husband, this box doesn't seem to be used for jewelry."
Liu Xin knew that she came from a famous family, and Cai Yong's friends were mostly literati and doctors. She must be knowledgeable. If she suspects that she is not for jewelry, it is really possible that she is not for jewelry, so she asked: "Yan'er, what do you think it is used for?"
Cai Yan frowned for a long time and said, "I can't tell you, anyway, this box is a bit special, so let's put it away first."
At the dinner, Liu Xin also invited a guest, Guo Jia's mother Lin who stayed alone in Xiangyang. Every time I see this hardworking and simple woman, Liu Xin has a sense of respect from the bottom of my heart.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, there was a group worship as usual, and then there was a long holiday. Liu Xin also stayed in the mansion to tease his children and live a happy life. Even the whole city of Xiangyang revealed a peaceful and peaceful atmosphere.
In fact, under this calm surface, there was an undercurrent surging, and Liu Xin didn't relax for a moment in preparation. Under the command of Jushou, the Phantom Secret Spy was divided into several teams, and they had sneaked into the counties of Jiangxia in batches, listening to various news separately. Xu Huang's First Corps and Zhang Fei's Second Corps also cancelled all vacations, and the guards of Feihu's personal guards were significantly strengthened.
At this time, Liu Xin's advantage in dividing the army into local army and regular army was revealed. The two major armies conducted a series of war preparations around the Spring Festival. Not only did they prepare enough food and grass, they also drew a part of their troops from the third and fourth armies to supplement them. Since the mobilization of grain, grass and materials does not need to pass through the local government and the mobilization of the army, the prefects of the counties have no right to intervene. As a result, the news was well blocked, and even Kuailiang and Kuai Yue were kept in the dark, without any warning in advance.
On the second day of February of the third year of Zhongping, Liu Xin suddenly once again called civil and military officials to the prefecture for discussion. Kuailiang and others had already put Huang Zu's affairs behind their heads, thinking that Liu Xin was calling them here now, just to arrange various affairs for the next year.
Liu Xin slowly walked into the hall, went straight to the head of the room, sat down, and said to everyone: "Everyone, the court has sent an emergency document to remind us Jingzhou for the tax arrears of the previous two years. Everyone knows that in the past two years, Xiangyang and Nanyang The taxes of the five counties are paid in full, and the four counties of Jiangxia, Lingling, Wuling, and Guiyang owe taxes. Jiangxia owes the most taxes. Over the years, they have blatantly defied the court’s laws and refused to pay taxes. They also ignored all the official documents sent to them by the official. What's the difference between their behavior and rebellion? As the saying goes, capture the thieves first, capture the king, the official now decides, starting today, send troops to fight against Jiangxia!"
Kuailiang hurriedly got up and said, "Go back to the lord, with the swordsman and soldiers, and all the creatures are overwhelmed. I hope the lord will think twice."
Liu Xin waved his hand at him and said, "Mr. Zirou, I know that you have always been humane and righteous, and I appreciate that. However, in the face of justice, it is inevitable that someone will make sacrifices. This is inevitable, so let these prefects ignore it. National law, separate party? If things go on like this, the country will not be the country!"
Kuailiang hesitated and said: "The lord, Huang Zu and others did not openly rebelled. If it was because of the incident last year that they sent troops to crusade him, they still said the past. Now that the incident has been revealed, I am afraid that some divisions will be unknown when they send troops."