Back to the Song Dynasty as a tyrant

"Let him in."

Hu Quan walked in and said, "But Jingxi South Road promoted Changping Secretary Zhou Hong and Zhou Cang?"

"It's my official." Zhou Hong took a look at the young man in front of him, "Your Excellency is Hu Quan, the envoy of the Shaanxi Banking Supervisor?"

"It's my officer."

"You're not in Shaanxi, what's the point of coming to Xiangyang?"

"Your Majesty is in the magistrate's yamen now, let me invite Zhou Cang to go over and talk about it."

When the imperial guards arrived at the transfer office, they did not find Li Zhaoyan.

But Li Zhaoyan had already arrived at the magistrate's yamen ahead of schedule.

He took a lot of yamen.

After getting off the carriage, he glanced at the people around him and said, "Who is this? It's so grand that it has surrounded the magistrate's office!"

A Imperial Guard guard stepped forward and asked, "Who is your Excellency?"

"My official is Li Zhaoyan, the transshipment envoy of West Jingnan Road. What! Which yamen are you from?"

"It turned out to be Li Cao, the transfer envoy, please come inside."

"Humph!"

Li Zhaoyan snorted coldly and strode in.

Seeing that he was wearing an official robe, no one stopped him.

When he entered the courtroom, he saw Zhou Jiande sitting on it with a large bruise on his face, and Guo Rong standing on the side with a large swollen face.

When Zhou Jiande saw Li Zhaoyan coming, he stood up immediately as if he had grasped at straws.

Li Zhaoyan is a transfer envoy, a member of the imperial court!

Even if this group of people really belonged to the Su Provincial Court, they still had to save face for the transfer.

"Li Cao, you are finally here!" Zhou Jiande was so excited that he almost cried.

"Who dares to be presumptuous here..." Li Zhaoyan said in a cold voice, his eyes suddenly shifted to the young man sitting on the left.

He shook his whole body, stared at the past carefully, suspecting that he was wrong, and then wiped his eyes with his hands.

Obviously, for a moment he couldn't believe what he saw.

He hurried forward two steps, but was stopped by Jing Chao.

He looked at Jing Chao again, good guy, isn't this Jing Chao, the former Sidu Yuhou who is on duty in Wende Palace!

The last time we saw each other was at the end of last year when I went to the capital to report on my work.

Li Zhaoyan didn't react for a while.

He took a closer look at Zhao Ning, then at Jing Chao, and then at his surroundings.

Brains buzzing.

He squeezed himself hard, then asked cautiously, "Your Majesty?"

Zhao Ning glanced at him: "You are here."

Only now did Li Zhaoyan confirm that the person sitting in front of him was really Zhao Guan's family.

He thumped and knelt down: "I see Your Majesty! Your Majesty is here in Xiangyang, and if I don't greet you, I deserve death!"

His behavior directly drove Zhou Dejian into a complete bewilderment.

Guo Rong, Guo Chang, and the whole family were completely confused.

Especially Zhou Jiande, whose jaw almost fell to the ground.

"Those who don't know are innocent, get up." Zhao Ning's tone was still as calm as the wind.

Li Zhaoyan stood up tremblingly.

Zhao Ning asked, "Why is Li Qing so nervous?"

Li Zhaoyan wiped the sweat from his forehead and said: "I suddenly saw Your Majesty and was very excited."

But Zhou Jiande scrambled down from the top: "I don't know if His Majesty is here, I deserve death!"

This time, Zhao Ning didn't let him get up.

Zhao Ning said: "I have read every word of your letter. You said that the people's livelihood on Southwest Beijing Road is very difficult. I hope the court can reduce or exempt taxes. I have also carefully considered it."

Li Zhaoyan quickly said: "Your Majesty's sage and benevolence can illuminate the world."

"I came here this time to see with my own eyes the hardships of the people's livelihood." Zhao Ning continued, "I just arrived in Xiangyang and looked around. You really didn't lie to me, the people's livelihood is indeed difficult!"

In the last sentence, Zhao Ning's tone obviously became stiff.

Li Zhaoyan didn't know what happened until now, but judging from his posture, I'm afraid it's not a good thing.

Zhou Jiande knelt there, buried his head between his long sleeves, sweated like a waterfall, and shivered.

"Where's Zhou Hong, are you here?"

Just as Zhao Ning asked, footsteps came from outside.

It was Zhou Hong and Hu Quan who promoted Changping's envoys.

After Zhou Hong came in, without further ado, he hurriedly said: "I am late in welcoming the holy driver, please forgive me, Your Majesty."

Zhao Ning said with a cold face: "It's good if you come, since everyone is here, then let's make this clear!"

As soon as he said this, the surroundings suddenly fell into a dead silence.

Zhao Ning stood up and walked in front of Guo Chang. Guo Chang knelt on the ground and said in a trembling voice: "I don't know if it's His Majesty the emperor, the grassroots deserve death!"

"Are you a debt collector?"

"Yes!"

"You are also the one who puts out the food?"

"There are many people, Caomin is just one of them."

Zhao Ning asked Guo Rong again: "Who are involved in the money in your loan business?"

Guo Rong said: "It's all the grassroots' own money, and Zhou Zhifu gave a little."

"There's no one else?"

"Nothing."

Zhao Ning turned around and looked at Li Zhaoyan and Zhou Hong, whose foreheads were covered with sweat, and then shifted his gaze to Zhou Jiande: "How much money did you put in Guo Rong?"

"Five...five hundred guan...I don't have much money..."

"Are you thinking in your heart that triple interest is everywhere among the people, and I will investigate this matter. Many people are guilty, so I won't do anything to you?"

"Chen...I dare not!"

"If you don't dare, just say it!" Zhao Ning suddenly roared out, "If you answer truthfully, I will spare your life, but if you dare to cheat me with half a word, I will kill you all!"

Zhou Jiande yelled in fright: "Say it! Say it!"

Zhou Hong on the side had already started to tremble, and he quickly said: "Your Majesty, such corrupt officials should be severely punished immediately, so as to serve as a warning to others!"

"Shut up!" Zhao Ning snapped back with one sentence, Zhou Hong was so frightened that he quickly shut up.

Zhou Jiande said quickly: "There are 20 guan! There are 20 guan! Li Cao and Zhou Cang's money is here with me, and I am responsible for finding private landlords and businessmen to loan the money to!"

20 guan?

Back then, the old coins given to Xixia by the Song Dynasty were only [-] guan!

More than [-] guan is a rich man in Song Dynasty.

How much currency is there in the entire Xiangyang Prefecture?

In the Song Dynasty, copper coins were minted in the past, and more than 200 million coins were minted a year.

In a Xiangyang mansion, the government-business collusion loan involved 20 yuan just from officials' money!

This is really a small number of people who have a lot of money!

Li Zhaoyan and Zhou Hong quickly knelt down.

"Your Majesty, he spit blood!"

"Your Majesty, everything I said is true!"

Zhao Ning looked at Zhou Hong again and asked, "Is there not enough food in the Tiju Changping Division?"

"His Majesty……"

"I remember asking you if it's enough?"

"enough……"

"Why do you still ask Mr. Guo to buy food?"

"This……"

"Let me think about it, if you lend money to farmers, let them buy your grain, and ask them to pay you back later, you really want to suck up all the people's money for the next 30 years at once!"

Chapter 496 The sword in my hand today begins with you! (first update)

Zhou Hong said: "It is enough to raise Changping Division's food, but the minister is just in case. If there is a disaster and the price of food rises, Changping Division will have enough grain to put on the market to stabilize prices. As for Zhou Zhifu The matter of borrowing money is mentioned, the minister is completely unaware of it."

Zhou Jiande quickly said: "Your Majesty, what I said is true, Zhou Cang put [-] guan in this minister! I have accounts here, and I have accounts!"

"Where are the accounts?"

"It's in the back study."

Zhao Ning gave a signal and ordered someone to take Zhou Jiande to fetch it.

Not long after, the account was withdrawn.

Zhao Ning began to look carefully.

Li Zhaoyan and Zhou Hong's money was naturally not handed over to Zhou Jiande all at once.

The account records are still very clear. The year and month of how much money was received, the amount of interest income, and the counties and villages where the income was made are all clearly written.

There are even some accounts that are very cruel, such as Liujia Village in Xiangyang Prefecture. Liu Erhe was forced to sell his wife and daughter to Yihonglou in Xiangyang Prefecture because he could not repay the interest on time, in exchange for [-] Guan as repayment.

There are also some accounts that are dividends.

Of course, the more detailed accounts also include what prices landlords and merchants like Guo Rong sell grain at, and how much the government clearly buys grain at, and how much is recorded in the official accounts, and how much is put into the pockets of officials.

The official Zhao glanced at Li Zhaoyan coldly, and said: "Li Zhaoyan, your memorial is still in my Wende Hall. You have repeatedly written about the sufferings of the people, and all the officials in the court have said that you are the pillar of the country. If it were not for me personally When I came to Xiangyang Mansion, I thought you were really a good official who cared about the country and the people!"

He looked at Zhou Jiande again, and said, "The tax reduction and exemption in Zhali, is it the tax reduction for the common people, or the tax reduction for the landlords and squires?"

At the beginning of the birth of classes, the status and status of people began to create an insurmountable gap.

In the era of slavery, slave owners stipulated that slaves were their private property in the most direct way.

Killing a slave is no different from killing a chicken.

When the population and productivity developed to a certain stage, the emperor and princes needed sufficient taxation and military force, so slavery began to disintegrate.

The most typical is the rise of Zhao Guo after the division of the three families.

Freeholders owned the land and became taxpayers for states, kingdoms, and empires.

When the war came, the emperors of the classical empire began to mobilize these free farmers to fight for the empire.

In the empire of the classical era, there are many princes, kings, aristocratic families and powerful people.

For example, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, the tyrants kept the peasants in the manor, and the peasants went to other lands, which undoubtedly increased the strength of other tyrants.

Anyone who dares to cross the boundaries of the manor can be sentenced to death without a non-compete agreement.

Haoqiang not only has the means of production, but also controls public opinion.

Haoqiang said that the night is white, so the night is white.

Farmers are the production tools of the tyrants. The only function of the production tools is to create wealth for the tyrants. When necessary, they can also be sent to the battlefield as cannon fodder.

Later, the imperial power of the empire continued to expand, and the powerful and aristocratic families disappeared following the demise of the Tang Dynasty.

In the Song Dynasty, local forces in the new era no longer had independent military, financial, and judicial power, and it was impossible to directly control farmers according to their own wishes.