He suddenly rushed forward like crazy and kissed Huang Qiong directly on the mouth. When Duan Lin grabbed Huang Qiong and wanted to force a bully to bow. Huang Qiong reacted and pushed her away again. She just said lightly that as a woman, she should take good care of herself. He quickly put his clothes in order, said something to Dao Meiping again, and after persuading her, he lifted his legs and left. But seeing Huang Qiong leaving without any hesitation, Duan Lin suddenly looked up to the sky and laughed.
And in this laughter, whether it was Huang Qiong who was leaving or Dao Meiping who wanted to say something, they all heard that it contained countless reluctances and a hint of inexplicability. It wasn't until Huang Qiong's back completely disappeared that she lay down calmly again. Dao Meiping looked at Dao Meiping who was standing aside, looking a little overwhelmed. She didn't even put on her clothes and was just looking at herself in a daze. But he closed his eyes. Although he didn't do anything inappropriate, a line of tears flowed down the corners of his eyes.
Looking at Duan Lin in front of her, Dao Meiping sighed. How could she not know Duan Lin's temperament? Duan Lin is the youngest daughter of brother Duan Jin. Not only is she beautiful, she is also quite smart. Not only reading and literacy, but also the martial arts inherited from the Duan family can be learned in one go. In addition, she got a daughter in old age, so she has been her father's favorite daughter since she was a child. He has developed a proud temperament since he was a child. He is the kind of person who looks cold on the outside, but is actually very competitive in his heart.
She may not really want to enter the palace, or really want to stay with the Lord. She did these things because she probably wanted to compete with Duan Jin. As for the reason, it is caused by urination. Duan Jin was smart and beautiful since she was a child. Whether it was writing or practicing martial arts, she was the most outstanding person of her generation in the Duan family. As for Duan Lin, she is also the leader of her generation. Since childhood, he has been compared with Duan Jin. It's just that no matter how hard she tries, she's still somewhat inferior to Duan Jin.
This made her, who had always been proud and arrogant, unable to swallow her breath. Even though Duan Jin was forced by the Gao family, after his brother's death, he left Yangjume City and lived in seclusion in Ailao Mountain. But Duan Jin has always been a legend in the Dali Palace. Now Huang Qiong is extremely loved by her side. The master even did not hesitate to almost destroy the Dali Kingdom for her, and even destroyed the entire Shanchanhou Mansion. This makes her who has always been competitive and always wants to surpass Duan Jin, how can she really be willing to do so?
Especially when it comes to choosing a husband, facing Huang Qiong, who is the king of a country, no matter how Duan Lin chooses, she can't be better than Duan Jin. What's more, this time he not only lost to Duan Jin. She also lost to herself, Duan Miao and Duan Yan'er, the older generation who in her eyes were old and shabby. She even lost to Duan Yu and Duan Yun, who were originally looked down upon by her, as well as peers like Da Ru. This probably made her, who had always been arrogant and arrogant, find it hard to accept that no one in her generation in Dali was inferior to her.
Although Dao Meiping also knew that Duan Lin's idea was somewhat absurd. There is no comparison between her and Duan Jin. No matter how good Duan Jin is, that is already in the past. Even if she was excellent, Duan Jin would not compare with her. What's more, Duan Jin may not even know about the so-called rankings in the palace. Even though they are all in the same place now, Duan Jin has already restrained his temper. What can be compared with being in the palace caring for her husband and raising her children? As for why Duan Lin insists on getting the master's thoughts, why doesn't Dao Meiping understand?
Except for the unyielding energy in my bones that I can't let go. I'm afraid what I'm thinking more about is that even if he can't compare to him in other aspects, he will definitely surpass Duan Jin in terms of being favored by the emperor. He may even plan to surpass Duan Jin in the number of children he has. Anyway, she is younger and has more capital and time. Of course, she did this because she did not accept her current embarrassing situation and her relationship with the Lord. Thinking that she would enter the palace so that he could leave with a little dignity.
But now, Huang Qiong would rather endure it than touch her, which would undoubtedly hurt her self-esteem even more. Especially the way the Lord treated him in front of her, I'm afraid she might not care about him in the future, and it might even be good if she didn't hate herself. Thinking of this, Dao Meiping couldn't help but feel a little sad. I didn't know how to comfort Duan Lin for a moment. She is different from the other girls. She was brought back to Jingzhao by Huang Qiong and forced to stay in the palace. She never thought that she would reach this point.
Duan Lin in front of her made Dao Meiping sigh helplessly. After this time, Duan Lin did not cause any trouble again, perhaps because she knew that Huang Qiong was firm towards her. It can even be said that they have not even taken a step into the palace. Even Huang Qiong proposed marriage and got married honestly. Following her newlywed husband, who was now promoted to Duke of Qingyang County, he returned to the fiefdom of Qingyang Mansion. Dao Meiping, on the other hand, was forced to stay in the palace by Huang Qiong in the name of support. Although there is no name, it is included in the order of sleeping.
Huang Qiong's strength, Duan Lin's indifference, and Duan Jin's helplessness made Dao Meiping completely give up. I just hope that at my age, I don't let anything happen that I'm pregnant. That would be a real shame. As for those two people who entered the palace again for whatever reasons, they deliberately avoided the master and never appeared in front of Huang Qiong again. On the contrary, Huang Qiong was allowed to devote all his energy to state affairs. Now that the rebellion has been suppressed, although the people of the world still criticize Huang Qiong in some aspects.
But Huang Qiong's throne can be said to be as secure as Mount Tai. Now, Huang Qiong can finally start a series of changes that he has planned long ago. The first thing among them is to vigorously promote cotton cultivation. In addition to relying on the Fan family, they also publicly offered rewards for cotton processing plans. Even among the rewards given to meritorious officials and clan members, quilts made from simple processing have become the first choice.
The second is to set an upper limit on the number of fields occupied by the subjects of the world, regardless of clan or important ministers. A five-level standard was also formulated. For how many acres the land exceeds, how much grain will be collected according to the standards set by the imperial court. Of course, in order to appease the resistance of the clan, important ministers, and nobles. In addition to exceeding the three upper limits set by the imperial court, the amount of money and grain collected was slightly lower than the normal standard. Moreover, of the three uppermost standards, two are just normal levies and one is slightly exceeded.
Only when the maximum limit is reached or exceeded, the court will collect 30% of the money and food from multiple places. Moreover, if the owner has military exploits or has made great contributions to the court, there will be a certain exemption period and a lower tax collection standard. Huang Qiong also knew that once this imperial edict was issued, it would cause considerable social conflicts. But the grim fact is that it has reached a point where it is impossible to change. Nowadays, land annexation is becoming more and more serious in the world, and more and more land is in the hands of wealthy families and clans.
When Da Qi was founded, the population dropped sharply due to long-term wars, and a large amount of land was left uncultivated. Therefore, during the founding period of the People's Republic of China, the land equalization system adopted in the early years of the former Tang Dynasty was adopted. The imperial court provided seeds and cattle to support agriculture. However, as the world has been peaceful for a long time, it can be said that land annexation has become increasingly serious and has been concentrated in the hands of a few people. The common people, who make up the majority of the people in the world, have ended up in a situation where they have no land to cultivate and their lives are becoming increasingly poor.
And those wealthy families who control most of the land, as well as the clan. Since the reign of Lizong, the clan has not paid any money or food at all. As for those wealthy families, they will also find ways to avoid paying the money and grain. In addition to trying every means to support family members to become scholars and climb up the ladder. Or they would rather spend huge sums of money in bribes, find ways to bribe local officials, and find various reasons not to pay money and food. Nowadays, among the high-ranking officials in the imperial court, none of their families has tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of acres of land, but no one is willing to pay taxes.
However, in the imperial court's assessment of local officials, there was a very stringent standard, which was the standard for collecting local money and grain into the treasury. Except for years of great disaster, if local officials fail to meet the requirements for many consecutive years, they will default on the money and grain that should be turned over to the court. Not only will he fail the assessment, he will even face demotion or even dismissal from office, and he will have to go home early to retire. In order to keep the official title on their heads, those local officials would naturally pass on the original burden of their land tax to the ordinary people who had no power.
As a result, the taxes that should have been borne by ten people are now concentrated on the poorest three or two people. As a result, one stone of grain should have been paid, and three hundred cents of money could be used to complete the payment. Now it is necessary to pay ten shi and three guan of money to complete the payment of the imperial ration. As a result, they have become the poorest group of people in the world, but have the heaviest burden. However, those clans and wealthy families who were not short of money at all resorted to various means to pass on all the money and food that should have been given to the court.
Because they were overburdened and unable to pay the taxes levied by the court, many people turned their land into the hands of those who could be exempted under various banners, turning homesteaders into tenant farmers. This makes those wealthy families more wealthy as the land under their names continues to increase. As a result, not only did the gap between the rich and the poor become too large, but the land that the court could collect money and grain from continued to decrease, causing the money and grain to be collected to continue to decrease almost every year.
What made Huang Qiong make up his mind to break the powerful, noble, and clan that had monopolized his job for more than a hundred years was what Huang Qiong saw with his own eyes when he went south to Guangnan West Road last time. Along the way, Huang Qiong discovered that more and more people were abandoning their land due to excessive taxes. Some make a living by renting tenants to the families of nobles, wealthy families, and officials. Because those rents are still much lighter than the taxes on their heads now. Some work part-time as a sanitation worker instead, but this is only a very small number.
Some simply dragged their families out and became refugees. Originally, with the vigorous redevelopment of Ningxia Prefecture, which was known as the southern part of the Yangtze River, a large number of refugees moved in. The number of refugees around Jingzhao Mansion, which has been well managed, has increased in recent years. Once again tens of thousands of people gathered. Most of these people come from Shandong Road, Lianghuai Road, and Huguang North Road. Of course, some of them are fleeing to avoid the war. But most of them have lost their land to make a living and come to the capital to seek a way for their families to survive.
At the same time, during the journey south, Huang Qiong, who was traveling in a light and simple manner, obtained a large amount of first-hand valuable information without alerting the local officials. He found that although he had not levied a penny in taxes for suppressing the rebellion. However, there are still great complaints among the people, and the burden on the people is still extremely heavy. What he saw and heard along the way south told him that if this situation did not change, the next rebellion might not be far away.
And once a new rebellion appears, it may not be as easy to extinguish as the false emperor. The public dissatisfaction has boiled to such an extent that it has reached a point where it cannot remain unchanged. Throughout the history of Chinese dynasties, the common people had only one reason for rebellion: not having enough to eat.
