"Zhang Qing's family, how are you collecting food and fodder for the frontier army these days?" Xiao Shiyu asked in the Qigong Nanyuan study room while looking at the memorial in his palm.
"Your Majesty, we have raised nearly one million loads!" Zhang Shumin held a jade tablet and bowed respectfully to Xiao Shiyu: "In addition, the border troops now imitate the garrison in Stone City and implement the method of marching and garrisoning. Food and grass are much more abundant than before.”
"Zhang Qing! Since you took over the position of agriculture minister, your land surveying and border army garrisoning have been very effective." Xiao Shiyu showed a faint smile: "But don't slack off, we monarchs and ministers still have a long way to go. .”
"In your Majesty's favor, Shumin is willing to work hard and die." Zhang Shumin received the approval and quickly thanked him.
"Su Qing's family, the same goes for you." Xiao Shiyu slowly put down the memorial in his hand: "Recent measures against tax evasion by merchants have also been very effective, and the remaining silver in the national treasury has also increased."
"All this was caused by His Majesty's divine power. I just did my duty." Su Xing hurriedly bowed to Xiao Shiyu.
"But Su Qing, you should know that this is just a temporary solution rather than a permanent solution?" Xiao Shiyu changed the topic: "The clan of nobles who benefit the most do not have to pay a tael of tax."
"Your Majesty! The nobles have not had to pay taxes since ancient times. This is the foundation of the country." Su Xing knew that Xiao Shiyu was eager to govern the country, so he could only patiently advise him.
"Su Qing, it seems that you don't understand what I mean." Who is Xiao Shiyu? Naturally, he does not dare to risk the disapproval of the world easily. You must know that he, the emperor, is not a person of his own, but shares the world with the scholar-bureaucrats.
"I am stupid, please let your Majesty make it clear." Su Xing was slightly stunned, and then he bowed to Xiao Shiyu respectfully.
"Of course the gentry do not have to pay taxes, but many merchants collude with the gentry to evade taxes, causing the treasury to decrease year by year!" Xiao Shiyu was very aware of everything. He said a few words that made Su Xing break out in cold sweat: "If it is just squeezed, For ordinary agricultural, industrial and business people, this will undoubtedly aggravate the conflict between them and the imperial court, and is not a blessing to the country! Su Qing, do you understand?"
"Your Majesty's holy teachings have made Xing Mao suddenly enlightened." Su Xing knelt down with trembling knees and kowtowed to Xiao Shiyu: "Wei Chen will strictly investigate such merchants in the future."
"Yeah! Just understand!" Xiao Shiyu said in a deep voice: "Su Qing, just go ahead and do it. If there are any problems that cannot be solved, report them to me in a timely manner."
"I sincerely obey His Majesty's decree." As soon as Su Xing finished speaking, he heard a cry from outside the study: "Get out of the way and let me see Your Majesty."
"Your Majesty is summoning two adults, please wait a moment, Lord Marquis." The servants in front of the door dared to let people in at this time, and the two of them blocked the door with their bodies.
"Su Qing, get up first." Xiao Shiyu frowned slightly when he heard the voice of the person coming, and motioned to Gao Xian beside him: "Go and call the person in."
"Old slave, go now." Gao Xian shook off the Buddha dust and walked straight out.
"Your Majesty, do you need me to withdraw temporarily?" Zhang Shumin and Su Xing bowed in unison.
"Avoid? No need to avoid." Xiao Shiyu waved his hand, with a flash of light in his eyes: "Not only do I not need you to avoid, but I want you to watch and listen together."
Not long after, Gao Xian led a short, fat, fair-skinned, gorgeously dressed man in his mid-twenties hurried in.
"Your Majesty, you have to make the decision for me! Your Majesty." Before the short fat man could stand still, he threw himself on the ground, knelt down, and kept beating the ground with his fists.
"Uncle! You are also the Marquis of Wu Cheng of my dynasty after all, how could you be so rude?" Xiao Shiyu felt very unhappy when he saw the short fat man getting into trouble as soon as he entered the study.
"Your Majesty, you don't know something." This short fat man was Lu Qin, the brother of Xiao Shiyu's beloved concubine Lu Guifei. He was still indifferent and continued to beat the ground: "The commander of the Xuanwu Army, Wang Meng, is too arrogant. He actually led his men to My nephew Lu Shaolin is surrounded and I beg your Majesty to punish him severely."
"Why did Wang Meng surround Lu Shaolin?" Xiao Shiyu frowned and waved to Gao Xian: "First, help Marquis Wu Cheng up to speak."
"Then Wang Meng insisted that Shaolin's Long Jie Army hid a deserter in their camp." With Gao Xian's support, Lu Qin slowly stood up: "The number of Xuanwu Army belongs to Long Jie Army." Several times, Wang Meng actually mobilized his entire battalion to surround Long Jie's army, I beg your majesty to make the decision for me."
"Is there such a thing?" Xiao Shiyu looked at Zhang Shumin with great interest and asked, "Zhang Qing! Your brother Zhang Ye is the commander-in-chief of the Divine Guard Army, commanding all the armies in Shicheng. What should you do if something like this happens? manage?"
"Your Majesty, the trouble is big! If it is not handled well and the two armies fight, it will be bad." Zhang Shumin also knew that the matter was difficult and quickly suggested: "Shumin dares to make a suggestion. Your Majesty will immediately order Zhang Ye's divine guards to stop it. The two armies were fighting, and Wu Chenghou was ordered to go to Shicheng to find out his true intentions and give an explanation to the Xuanwu Army."
"Wu Chenghou, are you willing to take a trip to Shicheng?" Xiao Shiyu nodded slightly, picked up a memorial and patted his palm gently.
"I am willing to go for Shaolin." Lu Qin bowed to Xiao Shiyu and said, "But for the sake of notarization, I would like to ask your Majesty to appoint someone to go with me."
"Well! Zhang Qing, who do you think is appropriate to send?" Xiao Shiyu trusted Zhang Shumin very much and asked his opinion on many things.
"Master Su is capable and qualified for this post." Zhang Shumin placed Su Xing's nail next to Lu Qin without moving his expression.
"Su Qing, you and Marquis Wu Cheng will go to Shichengtou together." Xiao Shiyu nodded and stared at Lu Qin coldly: "If we find out who is messing around in the future, I will punish them severely."
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Lu Qin received the imperial edict and kowtowed as if pounding garlic. Even Gao Xian looked at him with disdain.
"I obey the order." Su Xing glanced at Zhang Shumin doubtfully, and left with Lu Qin without saying anything.
"I'm very excited today!" Xiao Shiyu's eyes showed a hint of excitement: "Come on, come on! Scholars, you might as well stay up all night tonight and talk by candlelight."
"Brother Li, are you serious about what you said?" In the backyard of Zhizhuang, although Tong Bo was surprised, his expression remained calm and he didn't show it at all.
"Brother Huang, have you forgotten what Li does?" The man in gray returned the ink pad and half of the paper to Tong Bo: "These two things are unmistakable."
"Brother Xiangyun, you didn't expect Zuo Tianhao to have such great ambitions?" Liu Ningshi had the word 'surprise' written all over her face.
"Zuo Tianhao shouldn't be that capable!" Tong Bo shook his head: "The man behind him is terrifying."
"Okay! Li has already said what needs to be said, it's up to you two to decide!" The man in gray moved and disappeared into the night.
"Brother Xiangyun..." Liu Ningshi was about to speak, but was interrupted by Tong: "What? Miss Liu is afraid, do you want to back down?"
"Ning Shi is not afraid, it's just whether he should tell Uncle Liang about such a big matter first." Liu Ningshi felt uneasy after hearing what the man in gray said. She always felt that this matter was beyond her scope of knowledge.
"Girl, sometimes people always face some dilemmas." Tong Bo said it very easily, but every word entered Liu Ningshi's ears but it was so heavy: "Now don't say that we can't get out of the cabinet, even if we can Come out, I'm afraid Zuo Tianhao and his gang will have escaped long ago."
"Can't get out of the pavilion?" Liu Ningshi was shocked: "What did the man in gray mean when he mentioned sealing the pavilion? Will we be trapped here forever?"
"Girl, don't be nervous." Tong Bo smiled and waved his hand: "The so-called closure of the pavilion is just to increase the inspection of the exit. After all, the people in the pavilion also need water and food."
"Why was the pavilion closed suddenly?" Liu Ningshi inadvertently glanced at the room where An Da Fang was: "Is it because of Brother Da Fang?"
"The defense is just the trigger for sealing the pavilion." Tong Bo saw that Liu Ningshi still had a troubled expression on her face, and took out the Purple Smoke Wealth Card and threw it to her: "If the girl really wants to leave, no one will stop her with this card. It would also be a good idea to let Taifu know what is going on here."
"Ke Ningshi is gone, what will everyone do?" Liu Ningshi looked at the sign in her hand and hesitated.
"Girl, you should stop being disturbed; if you don't leave now, there will be a storm, and I'm afraid there will be no chance again." Tong Bo saw Liu Ningshi being silent and said with a smile: "After girl leaves, I will try my best to ensure that everyone Guard against the safety of Xiao Liu and Miss Yu."
"Ning Shi has decided to go find Uncle Liang and explain everything!" Liu Ningshi took the Zi Yan Wealth Card and stood up: "Brother Xiang Yun, take care."
"Go!" Tong Bo smiled and nodded. Liu Ningshi no longer hesitated. She moved and disappeared into the night like a man in gray.
"Young Marshal! Wang Meng deceived people so much that he led his troops to surround the entrance of our military camp." In the Chinese military tent of Longjie Military Camp, Wang Baihu and a group of soldiers collectively clasped their fists towards Lu Shaolin who was sitting on the master's seat and said: "Young Master With the commander's order, the low-ranking officers immediately rushed out of the camp, vowing to annihilate the Xuanwu Army."
"Swear to annihilate the Xuanwu Army, swear to annihilate the Xuanwu Army!" The soldiers immediately echoed, and their morale was high.
"Do you all think we should be killed?" Lu Shaolin was a young man at first, and he had long been unhappy with being surrounded by the Xuanwu Army. At this time, the roar of the soldiers aroused the blood in his body, and the gentian sun gun in his hand was faintly stirring.
"Kill out, fight out." Wang Baihu took the lead and raised his right fist high, and the soldiers behind him shouted loudly.
"Wang Baihu! You go and assemble the soldiers of the East and West Second Battalion, follow my command, and do the third watch tonight..." Lu Shaolin's mind became hot, and he stood up from the main seat, raising the gentian blazing sun gun toward the sky. .
"Young Marshal, you must not do this!" Just as Lu Shaolin gave the order, Qiao Baihu rushed into the camp at the right time, knelt down on one knee and clasped his fists.
"Qiao Baihu?" Lu Shaolin frowned, very dissatisfied with Qiao Baihu's interruption; but Qiao Baihu was an old man from Long Jiejun, so he had to suppress his anger and blood and asked patiently: " Tell me, why not?"
"Wang Meng is an insidious and cunning man. He only besieged but not attacked our Long Jie army. He clearly wanted to provoke the young marshal to take action first." Qiao Baihu knew this well and analyzed Wang Meng's intentions clearly: "If Long Jie The army is good at killing friendly troops, and it will be a big sin to appear in front of His Majesty in the future."
"According to Qiao Baihu's opinion, we have no other choice but to wait for the help of the family leader?" Wang Baihu immediately retorted: "How will Long Jie's army be able to hold its head high among other armies in the future?"
"A small impatience will ruin a big plan!" Qiao Baihu ignored Wang Baihu and immediately admonished Lu Shaolin: "Which one is more important, face, or Long Jiejun or even the entire Lu family?"
"This?" Lu Shaolin was rendered speechless by Qiao Baihu's few words, and his blood that had just boiled was half cold.
