Taiping Inn

Lan Xuanshuang led Zhang Baizhou and Lan Liu into the summer palace. At this time, several palaces with minor damage had been repaired and could be temporarily sheltered.

Zhang Baizhou was born in a scholarly family. Even though he had been in the martial arts world and had been tempered, many of his habits had not changed. He was well-dressed and well-mannered. He was obviously from a wealthy family.

When the craftsmen saw Zhang Baizhou following the lady and walking side by side with the young lady, they immediately understood that this was a young master, and naturally they were respectful to him.

However, several Yin-Yang Sect disciples guarding this place knew that Madam Lan had no children at all and her husband had died early. The person who came was not a young master, but most likely a younger generation from some family. Since he could be brought by Madam Lan personally, it was thought that his elder must be a big figure in the martial arts world, and they were all very polite.

This made Zhang Baizhou feel a little uncomfortable. Since his uncle Zhang Suqing died, he had been treated coldly the most. He had experienced the coldness of the world and the warmth and coldness of human feelings at a young age, which was one of the reasons for his extreme personality. When Li Xuandu left him in Jianxiu Mountain, Zhang Baizhou was prepared to be looked down upon and decided to avenge his family at all costs. But he never expected that after he stayed in Jianxiu Mountain, he was not only not looked down upon, but was treated with courtesy. Although he had no deep friendship with others, he also knew that based on his realm, the great masters of the heavenly realm would not look at him more. Not ignoring him was a concession.

Zhang Baizhou certainly understood that he would never be treated like this.

Who are Xu Da and Xu Qi? Why did the two great masters of the heavenly realm invite him, a boy from the innate realm, to drink? Why was Madam Lan, who was in the heavenly realm, willing to personally send him to the Imperial Capital? And why did Miss Qin, who never liked dealing with people, take the initiative to talk to him?

This was not because he was a rare talent, but because he was someone Li Xuandu had taken special care of. Others seemed to give him face, but in fact, they were all giving Li Xuandu's face. Li Xuandu didn't even have to say anything. It can be imagined that if Li Xuandu showed some dissatisfaction with him, without Li Xuandu's instructions, all this would naturally turn into various cold treatments and difficulties.

This is the power of power.

Although Zhang Baizhou was impulsive, he was not a fool and had understood many things.

In fact, Li Xuandu was a person who cared about old feelings. If it weren't for the past feelings, Li Xuandu could have ignored him. He offended Li Xuandu several times, but Li Xuandu was also very generous, not caring at all, not caring, just like an adult looking at a child crying, mainly coaxing. If Li Xuandu really wanted to care about it, he didn't have to do it himself. Just a word of order could make him live a life worse than death, or even be expelled from the sect and wander around.

But Li Xuandu not only didn't do this, but gave him a bright future, giving him the opportunity to take revenge and make friends with those big men. What is this? This can be regarded as a favor of knowing and meeting. It is said that a scholar will die for his confidant, and the favor of knowing and meeting is indeed a great favor. But Li Xuandu never took the initiative to mention it, and his attitude was also very obvious. He never intended to let Zhang Baizhou repay this favor. Or in Li Xuandu's view, this is a matter between him and the Zhang family. Even if it is not Zhang Baizhou, if it is another child of the Zhang family, he will choose to do this.

Thinking of this, Zhang Baizhou is not a heartless person. He can't hate or blame Li Xuandu anymore. He just feels complicated and doesn't know how to face Li Xuandu in the future. If his uncle were alive, I'm afraid he would say that he is judging a gentleman by his own mean heart.

Before going to the Imperial Capital, Lan Xuanshuang had to arrange all the things here, so she didn't have much free time, so she asked Lan Liu to take Zhang Baizhou to settle down in the temporary palace. They would leave for the Imperial Capital in one day or three days.

After Lan Xuanshuang left, only Lan Liu and Zhang Baizhou were left. Lan Liu looked Zhang Baizhou up and down and asked, "My name is Lan Liu, Lan for orchid, Liu for willow, what's your name?"

Zhang Baizhou was stunned for a moment, but he could not see any demonic or yin aura on Lan Liu. If it were not for the previous scene, Zhang Baizhou would really think she was a rich lady, but Zhang Baizhou did not have any idea of ​​slaying demons and monsters. After a slight hesitation, he answered according to etiquette: "My surname is Zhang, and my given name is Bai Zhou, Bai for daytime and Zhou for night and day."

Lan Liu asked again: "Zhang Bai Zhou, what is your relationship with Madam?"

Zhang Baizhou knew that she was not a human and did not know etiquette, and did not care that she called him by his name, so he answered truthfully: "Madam Lan is going to visit friends in Beijing, and I am going to Beijing too, so it's just on the way. Then he went to the capital with Madam Lan. "

Although Lan Liu was able to understand the text by devouring ghosts and knew many strange things, he had never left Beimang Mountain, let alone been to the Imperial Capital. He was still very curious about the outside world and asked again: "What are you going to the Imperial Capital for?"

Zhang Baizhou looked at Lan Liu's curious eyes and it was hard to refuse for a while, but he couldn't tell her everything, so he could only say vaguely; "I am originally from the Imperial Capital, and this time I am going home."

Lan Liu's eyes lit up, "I know that the Imperial Capital is the largest city in the world, what is there there?"

Zhang Baizhou had no choice but to pick a few things that impressed him and tell Lan Liu, but he didn't expect Lan Liu to be curious about everything and always wanted to get to the bottom of it. She actually pestered him and made him unable to get away.

……

The seven hermits of Confucianism symbolize seven animals, namely: dragon, tiger, crane, deer, toad, sheep, and swallow. The head is Long. Over the years, Old Man Long has been hiding in the imperial capital and is one of the many teachers of Emperor Tianbao, which is also the origin of the word "dragon".

Today, Emperor Bao has not taken charge of the government, and as usual, he still has to study hard every day, from classics, history, literature and collections to geography and maps, and even dabbled in some military books, including everything. In terms of knowledge, Emperor Tianbao is far superior to many people of his age.

Today is Mr. Long teaching Tianbao Emperor, talking about "farming affairs".

In the view of Emperor Tianbao, Old Man Long is the most lenient among the many teachers. He is not old-fashioned, not pedantic, and the most interesting. The same is true for today's farming. Old Man Long did not just follow the script, but asked questions and answered Emperor Tianbao. If Emperor Tianbao could not answer or had a wrong answer, he would explain it one by one.

When it comes to farming, water conservancy cannot be avoided. After all, farmland needs to be irrigated and floods must be prevented. A long river has flooded through the ages, and water control has become a problem for eternity.

As an emperor, Emperor Tianbao was at the age of passion and had many ideas. At this time, he heard from the teacher how to prevent floods, and immediately went from consolidating dikes to stocking up silt and opening fields, to planting trees and afforestation from the source of the upstream to maintaining water and soil. Come together.

Old Man Long kept nodding and said, "What Your Majesty said is very true. The old minister has nothing to add. However, the old minister still has another question. Whether it is building a dam or planting trees, where does the money come from?"

Emperor Tianbao was stunned. After a while, he replied: "The court is rich all over the world. As long as the war is pacified, the national treasury will naturally be abundant."

Old Man Long said, "But it is because the court has no money that wars are everywhere. This is a constant cycle. The more rebelled, the less money they are, the less able they are to suppress the rebellion."

Emperor Tianbao was speechless.

Old Man Long continued, "Even if you take a step back, will it really be the rebellion of the Pingding Rebellion be the richest treasury?"

Emperor Tianbao frowned and said, "Isn't it?"

"The old minister will give an example. The Sun family of Sun Ge Lao, who has retired and returned home, is a wealthy family in Songjiang Prefecture, with more than 100,000 acres of fertile land, and Songjiang cotton cloth is famous all over the world. It seems that there are taxes to collect here, but in fact it is There is no tax to collect." Old man Long said slowly, "Because the tax exemption of land in the family of officials and gentry is the ancestral system, there is no tax to collect at this level. When the Sun family woven into cotton cloth, he will not sell it himself, and wait. The cotton merchants can only receive commercial taxes from the cotton merchants on the Lika. A cotton cloth of thirty or ten thousand taels of silver can only be charged commercial taxes of thirty taels of silver. If so, Then, when it is taken up and exploited, it will be only 100 taels of silver when it is actually sent to the treasury. My Wei seems to be rich all over the world, but the commercial tax that can be collected every year is only 3 million taels of silver at most. Now it’s less than one million taels of silver. It’s not enough to use these three million taels of silver to build the river bank, let alone anything else.”

Speaking of the ancestral system and the officials and gentry, Emperor Tianbao immediately lost his god in his eyes, "Then is nothing I can do?"

Old Man Long said, "There is a way."

Emperor Tianbao asked, "What's the solution?"

Old Man Long whispered: "Implement the new policy."

Although Old Man Long had lowered his voice, it was still like a muffled thunder resounding in the ears of Emperor Tianbao.

Emperor Tianbao was startled, and immediately looked out the door, and said anxiously: "Zhang Suqing died because of this matter, be careful of his words."

Old Man Long was not surprised at all and said slowly: "It is true that Zhang Suqing died, but his approach is correct. The royal family and vassal kings do not pay taxes, and officials and gentry do not pay taxes. The taxes of the court can only be suppressed on the people. If you are overwhelmed, you can only sell the land to vassal kings or officials and gentry and become tenants. If the land is annexed, no one in the world will pay taxes, the national treasury will be deficient, and the people will live in poverty, so the dynasty will change."

Emperor Tianbao was so shocked that he was extremely shocked, "Be careful of his words! Be cautious of his words!"

Old Man Long was unmoved and continued, "Those who cannot plan for the whole world cannot plan for a moment, and those who cannot plan for the overall situation cannot plan for a territory. Your Majesty, as the current emperor, you must make plans for the country and country of your ancestors. . If Your Majesty wants to implement the new policy, he must first be in charge of the government."

Emperor Tianbao struggled with his expression, "Master Long, as a son, I cannot disobey my mother."

Old Man Long added another fire, "Your Majesty cares about the relationship between mother and son and pays attention to filial piety. Can you compare with the country and country of the ancestors and the people of the world of the Great Wei Dynasty? What is more important than the importance?"

Emperor Tianbao clenched his fists.

"Your Majesty." Old Man Long emphasized his tone slightly, "Since ancient times, those who have accomplished great things do not care about the details. You can think about how Zulong did it. The First Emperor is in front of the precedent, why can't Your Majesty follow the example?"