"you win."

In the small study room of the East Palace, Prince Zhu Gaochi of Prince Yan looked at the chess game in front of him with an ugly expression, and admitted his defeat in frustration.

Because the weather has been getting hotter recently, the river ice dug out from the ice cellar last winter was placed in the corner of the wall more than half a month earlier than in previous years to cool down.

But even so, it was difficult to suppress the heat in Zhu Gaochi's heart.

Zhu Yunxi, who was sitting opposite him and playing chess with him, was always smiling.

"You have no room to fight back."

Zhu Gaochi angrily knocked the last white stone in his hand on the chessboard and looked sideways at Xie Jin and Xia Yuanji.

Finally, he looked at the chess game in front of him angrily.

The iron wall that I had worked so hard to build was smashed to pieces by that violent white dragon.

There is absolutely no structure at all.

But the last move was made, and the Tyrannosaurus took shape.

"You don't think this is chess."

Zhu Yunxi looked at the aggrieved little fat man in front of him with a smile, and chuckled: "Don't care about white cats or black cats. A cat that can catch mice is a good cat."

Zhu Gaochi slumped his shoulders and sighed softly: "So, you won the rumor this time."

As soon as this statement came out.

Xie Jin and Xia Yuanji, who were sitting on the sidelines watching the chess game, straightened their necks and looked at each other carefully.

Zhu Yunxi shook his head: "Although we have already made an inference, we still have to wait for Sun Cheng and Tian Mai to make the final decision today."

It's too late to say it, but it's soon.

Sun Cheng's voice sounded outside the small study room.

"Your Highness, the matter has been found out."

Outside the door of the small study room, Sun Cheng and Tian Mai hurried back to the palace, with a faint smell of blood still on their bodies.

It wasn't until a voice came from the small study that the two of them waved their sleeves with both hands, passing by their chests, and then stepped into the door.

Before the chess game in the tea room, Zhu Yunxi and others had changed their positions and looked at Sun Cheng and Tian Mai walking in.

Sun Cheng and Tian Mai bowed and bowed.

Then Sun Cheng took a step forward, cupped his fists and said, "Your Highness, the imperial court offered a bounty for crops a few days ago, and then rumors spread in Yingtian City. The person behind the rumors has been identified."

Zhu Yunxi snorted lightly.

Zhu Gaochi raised his eyebrows. Yingtian City, which had finally been stable for a long time, was going to be in trouble again.

Xie Jin and Xia Yuanji frowned.

They were all aware of the previous rumors, but no one could figure out who was behind the rumors.

At that time, rumors spread throughout Yingtian City overnight, and when the city gates were opened the next day, the rumors spread outside the city.

If the imperial court had not responded astutely, suppressed the rumor in time, and immediately published it again, it would have caused a commotion in the local area.

Looking back, almost everyone was secretly deducing and searching for clues.

But they all found out helplessly that the source of this rumor could not be found at all.

Therefore, when they heard that the person behind the rumor had been found out, both Xie Jin and Xia Yuanji looked curious.

Sun Cheng did not give in and said directly: "This matter involves a total of thirty-five Yingtian gentry families in Yingtian City, and fifty-four merchants are involved."

Xie Jin immediately frowned and asked, "No one from the court was involved?"

Sun Cheng shook his head: "We have verified many times and no one from the DPRK is involved."

"Are those gentry and merchants involved?" Xia Yuanji also looked puzzled and confirmed again.

Tian Mai on the side smiled bitterly and nodded: "That's true. We originally followed the officials from the DPRK and the Central Government to investigate the matter, but we didn't find anything unusual. In the end, the grandson reminded us that we were going to the Suiying Tianfu stall.

The matter of Ding Rumu was reviewed again.

Then we targeted the families who had conflicts with the government last year when they promoted the per-acre split, and used this as a clue to identify them one by one. Finally, after several confirmations, these people were picked out."

Xie Jin couldn't help but sigh: "It's really just these people who did it."

Zhu Gaochi had a worried look on his face. He looked at Zhu Yunxi and whispered: "This matter must be handled smoothly, otherwise the place may be in trouble and such things will happen again in the future."

"The people are coerced into speculating about the court and the government, causing the people to become alienated from the court..."

Zhu Yunxi said in a deep voice, his eyes gradually darkening, and then under the gaze of everyone, he slapped his hand heavily on the table, causing the black and white chess pieces on the board to jump and fall to the ground.

In the study room, the only sound was the sound of chess pieces falling and rolling.

Zhu Gaochi and others also knew the true purpose of this matter.

Zhu Yunxi whispered with murderous eyes: "Do they want to control the countryside forever!"

In the study room, several people were silent.

This matter has touched upon a common problem in all dynasties throughout the ages.

Imperial power does not go to the countryside.

Take today's Ming Dynasty as an example.

Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court has been setting up the attribution of power in the court, the division of local administration, and the extension of power.

On the first day of the imperial court, Zhongshu Sheng was headed by Zhongshu Sheng, who led various ministries and bureaus to take charge of the power of the country.

At the local level, the three levels of Daofu and counties are the extension of the power and will of the court.

The power of the government ultimately rests with the county magistrate and county magistrate in the local county.

For these two official positions, officials are still appointed by the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the imperial court.

Under this, a county's county bookkeeper, county captain, and officials in the six offices of the county government are almost all filled by local gentry, or local officials with many years of experience. After the father dies, the son succeeds, and the elder brother dies.

The younger brother succeeds.

Further down the line, although the imperial court also had management positions such as Li Zheng, Village Zheng, and Grain Chief, they were basically elected by the local authorities.

This leads to the fact that in a village or a town, only the local gentry and merchant families have the power and voice.

They are responsible for explaining every policy of the imperial court to the people in the countryside, and are responsible for paying taxes every year in every rural area.

The sharing of land between farmers and farmers fundamentally deprived local gentry and merchants of their power to exploit local people.

It turns out that from the beginning, when the imperial court promoted the system of dividing households into acres, it did not take into account the large number of small gentry and merchants in the local area.

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Now, they have begun to launch their first counterattack against the deprivation of their rights and interests.

The small study fell into silence for a while.

After all, no one has been able to do this for thousands of years.

After observing for a long time, Xia Yuanji finally spoke in a low voice: "Your Highness, if the imperial court is too strong at this time, I am afraid there will be changes in the summer and autumn taxes this year."

He looked at it from the position and perspective of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

After all, the court has not yet been able to take back power from the local government. Many local affairs, especially the grain chief system that is responsible for collecting taxes from the people and handing them over to the government, are between local officials and the people.

Those small gentry and merchants were in charge.

Xie Jin also said: "If the grain chief system cannot be changed at this moment, and the local government is forced to hold the local government accountable for the things investigated today, I am afraid that the local tax revenue will be difficult this year."

"Ignore it, or treat it with care?"

Zhu Yunxi said calmly, looking at Xie Jin and Xia Yuanji.

What they said is not wrong. They seek stability in everything they do when governing, and they are not likely to interfere in tax matters without making preparations.

Xie Jin and Xia Yuanji were speechless when asked.

Because this is simply not Taisun's usual behavior in the past.

At this time, Zhu Yunxi looked at the little fat man on the other side of the chessboard.

Zhu Gaochi, who was being targeted, looked stunned and couldn't help but cough a few times, with a blush on his cheeks before he said slowly: "Actually... this matter... if it can be arranged properly and done step by step, it is not impossible to handle it.

, it can also have a deterrent effect on the ground.”

After finishing speaking, Zhu Gaochi glanced at Zhu Yunxi silently.

Zhu Yunxi immediately smiled slightly.

Xiaopang guessed what he was thinking.

Zhu Yunxi hummed twice: "That's it for today."

Jie Jin and Xia Yuanji looked at each other, their eyes twinkling, and they stood up silently.

"I'll take my leave."

Zhu Yunxi turned his head and looked down at the completely messy chess game without saying a word.

Sun Cheng and Tian Mai, who were standing in front, looked at the emperor's grandson who seemed to be deep in meditation, and then they also bowed and joined hands: "I will also take my leave first."

"You two will stay for a while."

Zhu Yunxi's voice suddenly came out at this time.

Sun Cheng and Tian Mai both had puzzled expressions on their faces and stopped silently.

Zhu Yunxi said softly: "Sent people to continue the investigation secretly. The entire Yingtian Mansion, the entire Zhili, I want to see how many people are still thinking about treating the people and land in the countryside as private property."

.”

"I accept my order."
To be continued...