After getting these Mongolians, Jilharang hurried back to Russia when it was already winter. There was no way, the traffic in these days was like this, basically relying on walking.

It's winter again, and the days of Ming Dynasty are still prosperous. This year, Jiangnan, Henan, Huaihei, and Guanzhong have rare good weather and no disease or disaster, and the wheat ears in the rice fields are heavy.

It was a bright yellow field, and farmers were waving their sickles happily in the fields.

It’s very tiring! But it’s joyful tiring. Harvest can always make people happy. Especially now that the food is no longer given to the landlords!

In previous years when there was a good harvest, the landlord's rent also increased. No matter it was a good year or a disaster year, it was always difficult for the tenants to make ends meet.

Throughout the year, it is treated with semi-thin and semi-dry conditions. When there is no harvest, wild vegetables become a must-have meal on the table.

It's fine now. I only need to pay 30% of the harvest to the government. The remaining grain will be collected in my own village. With this grain, I won't have to worry about chewing gum for a year.

"Old man, this year is going to be a bumper harvest." Li Xiao looked happily at the farmers harvesting. When he saw an old man sitting on the edge of the rice field, he also sat down.

"Haha! It's a good harvest." The old man suddenly sighed loudly.

"What? Aren't you happy about the harvest?" Li Xiao looked at the old man strangely.

"Hmph! There is more food, but the government also requires more rent. It is more than twice as high as in previous years, but the food in the fields cannot be doubled.

The old man's family has to pay 60% of the grain. They say that without the landlords, we poor people can live a good life. But damn, where is this good life?

The landlord is gone, but the government punished him even more harshly." The old man held his breath and took a swig of water. He wiped the water stains from his mouth, picked up the sickle and walked into the ground.

Li Xiao looked at the old man's back with a big knot on his brow.

"Let's go to the front and have a look." Li Xiao ordered, and Shunzi hurriedly followed.

I sympathize with the local magistrate here. This time he is at odds with the situation. This commander is very easy to mess with. If he doesn't get it right, he will really kill people.

The popular Shi Kefa just smiled and said nothing. He was most familiar with Jiangnan. This time Li Xiao visited the south, and he naturally wanted to follow him.

The harvest in the village ahead was early, and farmers were queuing up to pay taxes. Loads of grain filled the grain bucket, and the officer who had just filled the bucket to collect taxes kicked the bucket.

"Hulala!" The grain was scattered on the ground, and the guard looked sideways at the old farmer.

The old farmer had no choice but to open his pockets and continue to put grain into the bucket until it was full.

After it was filled, the tax official stuffed a small bag of copper coins.

After weighing the coins, the tax officer snorted. He scraped the bucket with a scraper and said, "Next!"

Li Xiao gritted his teeth, this is the only way to commit tax corruption.

This amount of kicking and kicking is the income of the tax officer and the policemen this year. It seems that this old guy knows things better and takes the initiative to give some bribes to avoid being cheated out of more food.

When the Zhu family was the emperor, this was the only way for the tax collectors at the bottom of the officialdom to commit corruption. I didn't expect that today, Li Xiao would actually see it with his own eyes. If you don't know, this sight is really... fucking shocking.

"Haha!" Shi Kefa saw Li Xiao frowning again and said lightly "haha" twice.

"I remember that the country only collected 30% of taxes, but if you look at this, it has collected 70% of taxes. How can ordinary people live?

If this continues, the people will rise up and rebel." Li Xiao gritted his teeth while feeling lucky.

"Haha! This is an old rule. It has been around since the days of Lord Hongwu. This kick is called kicking toward the sky. The more you kick, the less you kick, the harvest of the officials will be this year.

It’s been more than two hundred years, you think it can be changed if it can be changed?”

"Hebei, Shandong, Liaodong, and Henan have all been changed." Li Xiao said bitterly.

"The officials in those places are either those who were transferred from the Liao army or graduated from the school you run. But look, these people are all tax collectors from the Chongzhen period of Tianqi. Do you expect them not to be corrupt?

More than two hundred years of accumulated habits cannot be solved in one day. You know you have to kill them all and replace them, but are there really so many people among them? Besides, most of the people you train are northerners. They are really

Are you willing to come to the south and become an official?"

"Uh...!" Li Xiao was speechless. Most of the Liao army was from Liaodong. Later, people from Shandong and Hebei joined, but there were basically no other places.

After these people changed careers, they naturally became officials in places like Liaodong, Shandong, and Hebei.

The places where Li Xiao has done well in education are also in the north. Especially in places like Shandong, Hebei, Beijing and Liaodong. Students graduating from these places will naturally end up in their place of origin. No one is willing to come to the south for work.

Work.

It is said that the south of the Yangtze River is a beautiful place, but who knew that compared with the north, the south of the Yangtze River today is simply two different worlds.

Many places in Shandong, Liaodong, Beijing, and Hebei have already received electricity. In big cities like Beijing, Jinzhou, Tianjin, and Jinan, there are even street lights on the streets.

But what is there in Jiangnan? There are still candles everywhere at night. Many people still light oil lamps at home and are smoked by soot every day. Only a ghost would want to stay in a place like this.

Therefore, even those who come to Jinling as errands are regarded as transfers. On the contrary, officials in the south are trying to find ways to transfer to the north.

There is no good solution. The quality of living environment has always been an important condition for people to migrate.

"Don't you care?" Li Xiao looked at these tax collectors and gritted his teeth.

"Control! Of course you have to control them. You can peel off their skins and fill them with straw and hang them inside the yamen. This is called peeling off the skins and getting real grass! The method used to punish corrupt officials during the Hongwu period is said to be very powerful in deterring them." Shi Kefa looked at it with a smile.

Li Xiao.

"What are you holding back?" Li Xiao looked at Shi Kefa doubtfully.

This guy is a little less cunning than Sun Chengzong and Zhang Huangyan, but he is also an old fox who has become a master through practice.

"Hong Wu was a wise and powerful man who punished corrupt officials by peeling off their skins and making straw. However, in the early Ming Dynasty, corrupt officials still appeared frequently, which shows that torture cannot deter people. If you want to eradicate corruption, you have to rely on human execution."

"But where did I get so many people?" Li Xiao had no choice. The northern provinces had basically used up all the people he had brought with him. If he transferred more people from the army, it would shake the foundation of the army. This

Not only Ao Ye couldn't bear it, but Li Xiao couldn't bear it either.

Because the Liao Army is his foundation!
Chapter completed!