That Liu Zhizu could make such a move was not beyond Pei Xiaoer's expectations. Strictly speaking, according to the regulations of the Pei family army, killing people after the battle is a political matter and the county magistrate should make a decision. Liu Zhizu

Disposing of those large households without the judgment of the county magistrate is fundamentally a violation of Pei Jiajun's regulations.

Don't underestimate these regulations. It is these regulations that effectively guarantee that the officers of the Pei family army will not develop into a separatist force like the vassal town in the late Tang Dynasty. Pei Xiaoer does not want to be ignored, he must

We must ensure that Pei Jiajun’s surname will always be Pei.

But Pei Xiaoer is not going to get too entangled in this matter today. The first is that those big households dared to provoke the Pei family army, and they deserve to die. The second is that Liu Zhizu is very cooperative with him today, and Pei Xiaoer will naturally do the same.

Reciprocating the favor, the net opened up. Unknowingly, Pei Xiaoer had completely transformed from a living little person into a cold-blooded and calm political figure.

"Brother Zhizu, get up quickly. It's just a dozen people. Just kill them." Pei Xiaoer helped Liu Zhizu up and sighed: "When did you and I become so unfamiliar?"

Liu Zhizu smiled and said: "Public is public, private is private. How can the two be confused? I killed those big families at will. This is a public matter. Since it is a public matter, it must be done according to the rules. How can I become unfamiliar?

Already?"

Haha, Pei Xiaoer also laughed, "That's what Brother Zhizu said."

The next day, Pei Xiaoer, led by Liu Zhizu and Qin Yuming, left Anyi and headed west, arriving at the core of Anyi, Siyan City.

As the name suggests, Siyancheng is a place where salt is produced. It is less than thirty miles away from Anyi. It is a small city built of rammed earth. Its scale is actually not much larger than that of Zhuangzi, but this place is definitely the core and most important of the entire Anyi.

Almost all the income of the entire Anyi comes from this place, and all the wealth and prosperity are also generated from this. Without this place, the importance of Anyi can be said to be directly reduced by half.

Such an important place was naturally controlled by the Pei family's army early on. The guard stationed here was named Zhang Bangchu. Zhang Bangchu was actually an old man. When Pei Xiaoer defeated Guojiazhuang, he was among the first batch of people to be rewarded.

This person, but this person has a mature character, does not take risks easily and is naturally promoted slowly. When he is at heart, he is only the Qianzong of the first battalion. However, this person's character is perfect for defending the city.

When Pei Xiaoer brought Liu Zhizu and others to Siyan City, it was already noon. The officers and soldiers guarding the city were eating, and Zhang Bangchu had just served his rice bowl. Zhang Bangchu was born in a poor family and had almost never eaten anything since he was a child.

After a full meal, when his parents passed away when he was a teenager, he almost starved to death. So when he became the commander-in-chief, the most important thing for him was the food of the soldiers. In his opinion, it was nothing.

It is more real than having a full meal, and everything else is empty.

So whenever it was time to eat, he would wait until all the soldiers had food before he would eat. According to him, whenever the soldiers could have food, I would eat.

When he heard that General Pei Xiaoer had arrived, Zhang Bangchu quickly put down his bowls and chopsticks and ran to the city gate to greet Pei Xiaoer and his party.

"I've seen the general." Zhang Bangchu stood at the gate of the city, his whole body tense and gave Pei Xiaoer a military salute.

Pei Xiaoer returned the military salute with a smile, walked up to him and patted him on the shoulder, saying, "Mr. Zhang Qian, long time no see. It's been a good time lately."

"Okay, thank you for your concern, General. I've been doing well recently." As he spoke, Zhang Bangchu hammered his chest and said with a smile, "Look, I'm so strong now that I can kill a cow."

Pei Xiaoer punched him twice on the chest and said with a smile: "Okay, it's really different from when I was as thin as a stick. With a body like this, I can kill enemies and make meritorious deeds in the future. Let's go, come on

We’re on your territory, I’ll listen to your arrangements, let’s go see the salt pond.”

"Yes, General, please come this way." Zhang Bangchu said and gave way.

Pei Xiaoer was not polite and strode forward towards the salt pond, followed closely by Liu Zhizu, Qin Yuming, Zhang Bangchu and others.

Salt Lake, actually known as Jiechi in ancient times, has been an important salt-producing land in China since ancient times. According to "Confucius's Records of Three Dynasties", "The Yellow Emperor killed Chiyou (Chiyou) in Central Hebei. Chiyou was dismembered, his head was in different places, and his blood turned into bittern."

, which is also known as Jiezhou Salt Pond.”

During the Spring and Autumn Period, this place belonged to the Jin State. It was because of this salt pond that the Jin State was able to suppress the Qin State in Guanzhong; during the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao, who occupied the north, occupied the salt land here, and he had a powerful force in the north, watching as a tiger.

Sun Liu's capital. But now, under the rule of Tuanwan, this place of wealth belongs to Pei Xiaoer.

Pei Xiaoer stood on the high ground beside Jiechi and looked far away. He saw Baili Salt Lake, which was vast and spectacular, like a brilliant pearl embedded at the foot of the towering Zhongtiao Mountain. Unfortunately, Pei Xiaoer's literary talent was really not good.

Otherwise, if you compose a poem now, it may not become a good story in the future.

Walking slowly around Jiechi, you will see white salt at your feet that has precipitated from the lake water. However, there are too many impurities, which makes it less interesting than the snow-white salt in my memory.

"Where is the kitchen owner here?" Pei Xiaoer asked.

Zao households were the people who mined salt during the Ming Dynasty. Like other household registrations, they were passed down from generation to generation and could not be changed. The Ming Dynasty controlled the production of salt through the control of Zao households. But what is more deceptive is that Lao Zhu seems to particularly like it.

Quotas, the salaries of officials are fixed, the money and grain taxes in a province are fixed, and even the salt produced by kitchen households is fixed.

This has caused a huge problem, that is, the officials of Quanquan Salt Factory have no intention of expanding production. They just hand in their own errands every year and are unwilling to do more, because if they produce too much, they will exploit the households.

At that time, not only will it be useless, but it may also lead to guilt. In this case, how can those officials have the motivation to increase production?

Salt production is not increasing, but the problem is that the population is increasing. The extra population must also eat salt, and there is a strong demand. So under these conditions, an industry is becoming increasingly prosperous, and that is smuggling.

salt.

The private salt dealers went directly to the kitchen households to buy the remaining salt in their hands, because when the kitchen households produced salt on a daily basis, they would produce a little extra to prevent the government from not collecting enough salt.

After clearing the salt, the remaining table salt is residual salt.

Since regular salt is equivalent to a tax, it needs to be paid to the government for nothing. The government does not even have to pay a penny, and when sold to private salt dealers, they can collect money. What would you think if you were a kitchen household? It must be the official of the government.

Salt can be dragged away as much as possible, and the more surplus salt sold to private salt dealers, the better.

Under such conditions, does the government still want to collect salt tax? Just dream, if you can collect more than one million taels a year, you will be thankful to God, and you can ask for more.
Chapter completed!