In March, Jialan led his army to Jicheng, the capital of Zhuo County.

Jicheng is located on the north bank of Sanggan River. The southwest direction is the Emperor's Palace Linshuo Palace, and the northeast direction is the Royal Garden Beiyuan. In the palace, there are ten-mile camps between Jicheng and Sanggan River, including the army, the institutions belonging to the Eastern Expedition Base Camp, the mountains of food and supplies, as well as various workshops and temporary military cities.

On both sides of the water and land leading to Jicheng, there were crowds of people. Tens of millions of civilians and servants carried their backs on their shoulders, pushed wheel carts, horse carts, ox carts, or sailed sails, like turbulent torrents, rushing into the most important town in the north.

After the soldiers of the Northwest Horse Legion crossed the Jingxing Pass in Taihang Mountains and entered Hebei, the most intense feeling was that there were a lot of people in this place.

The population is large, on the one hand, because of the need for the Eastern Expedition, the imperial court recruited a large amount of labor from both sides of the river. On the other hand, it is because the population of Hebei, Henan, Shandong and other places is indeed the largest area in the Middle Land. In addition, it has been more than 20 years since the reunification, people live and work in peace, and the population naturally has an explosive growth.

The rolling crowds on the avenue slowed down the speed of the Northwest Horse Legion, and the exhausted soldiers also gained more rest time.

When it was late at night, Wang Bian and Jialan sat together and chatted with the officers, and the main topics were concentrated on the Eastern Expedition. Since the Eastern Expedition was naturally inseparable from the army, food and grass weapons, and the civilians who transported food and grass weapons to the army. So the topic extended, and they talked about the center without realizing it, talking about the various systems of the empire, various current situations and the contradictions contained therein.

Xue Deyin, who was knowledgeable, naturally became the center of everyone, and everyone learned a lot from his endless talk.

Xue Deyin was worried about the country and the people. He saw the crisis in Middle-earth today. However, he came from a noble family and had his interests. His interests were for the country and the people in the name of his interests, but in essence, he was to safeguard the interests of the powerful and the vested interests.

At first, Galan listened attentively like everyone else. Gradually, he made a different voice, and the debate with Xue Deyin became more and more intense, and the focus of the debate was what contradictions the biggest crisis in Middle-earth today originated from. Xue Deyin believed that there was a problem with the ruling philosophy of the central government and the proposed system, while Galan believed that the contradiction between population and land was becoming increasingly intensified.

Whether it is Hexi, Lingshuo or Jinzhong Taiyuan, they are all vast and sparsely populated, especially the Western Regions, which can be described as deserted. However, Hebei is different. Hebei is the birthplace of Middle-earth civilization and one of the most prosperous and prosperous areas on both sides of the river. Its population accounts for about 20% of the total population of Middle-earth China. The total population of the entire middle and lower reaches of the river, including Henan and Shandong, accounts for half of the total population of Middle-earth China, about 4.7 million households. According to the five people per household, there are 25 million people.

More than 20 years ago, the middle ground was divided into three parts, with the Zhou Kingdom of Yuwen, the Qi Kingdom of Gao, and the Chen Kingdom of the Chen Kingdom of the South. Among them, the Qi Kingdom of Gao occupied the middle and lower reaches of the Dahe River. At that time, Hebei, Henan, Shandong and Jinzhong were all the territory of Qi, so Qi Kingdom had the largest territory, with the largest population, with about 4 million households and about 20 million people, and the strongest strength. The Zhou Kingdom of Yuwen was based on Guanzhong and stationed in the northwest, but the northwest was vast and sparsely populated, and the population was less than 2 million households and nine million people at the highest. The Southern Chen occupied Jiangzuo. Although the place was good, since the demise of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the Song, Qi, Liang and Chen changed one after another, and the population was continuously reduced by half. By the time of the demise of the Southern Chen, Jiangzuo was only about 2 million people.

The population of the Yuwen family was less than half of the Gao family Qi State, and its area was very barren. Its wealth could not be compared with that of the Gao family Qi State, which had a wealthy area in the middle and lower reaches of the Dahe River. However, in the end, the Yuwen family destroyed the Gao family Qi State. Later, the Yang family usurped the country and seized the Yuwen family's world. After seven years of energy and relied on the powerful strength after the unification of the northern and southern borders of the Great Henan, they went south to cross the river to destroy the Chen State, ending more than 400 years of war and unifying the world.

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, more than twenty years, the population of Middle-earth has exploded, from about 30 million to 46 million. After more than 20 years of unification, the population has increased by about 15 million, but the total amount of land has increased very limited, which has brought about a deep contradiction between population and land. Especially in the densely populated areas of Dahe, namely Hebei, Henan and Shandong, the contradiction between population and land is more prominent.

Henan, Hebei and Shandong were originally the territory of the Gao Qi Kingdom, and the people in these places were originally subjects of the Gao Qi Kingdom. In the more than 20 years after the unification, the contradiction between the conquerors and the conquered people intensified with the intensification of land and population contradictions, which affected the stability of the world and the long-term stability of the Great Sui Empire. Therefore, after inheriting the Great Order, a series of reforms were carried out. The main purpose of the reform was to redistribute the wealth of Middle-earth.

The growth of wealth in Middle-earth is limited, with only so much land, but the population is expanding sharply. The old system safeguards vested interest groups, so the rich become richer, the poor become poorer, and social contradictions are becoming increasingly fierce. At this time, the system must be modified and the system must be used to redistribute wealth, that is, to reduce the vested interests of the powerful families and improve the lives of ordinary people. It is attributed to the administrative system to weaken the power of the powerful, such as centralized centers, adding central institutions to decentralize power, changing states to counties to reduce local institutions, modifying the official selection system and title system, etc.; it is attributed to the financial system to "scrape households and fields" and deepening the "equal land system".

At that time, Pei Yun, the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, was Pei Yun. Pei Yun presided over the reform of the financial system. He first carried out a nationwide "population and land census", "scraping households and fields" from the powerful families and local governments, and "scraping" all the people and land that were hidden. As a result, he "scraping" 640,000 people at one time and a large amount of arable land, and then deeply implementing the "equal land system". The former directly "war" with the vested interest groups and offended the powerful and wealthy people in Middle-earth. The latter not only offended the powerful and wealthy people, but also harmed the interests of a large part of the vested interests because of the irreconcilable contradictions between population and land. Just imagine, the land that was originally ten people and was divided into fifteen people to cultivate was actually directly harming the interests of the previous ten farmers.

The reform encountered great resistance in the early stage. Gao Yang, the first meritorious minister of the empire, was the opposition, the leader of the conservatives, and now he killed him without hesitation. In the second stage of the reform, he first made contributions to the Western Expedition, and then used this martial arts to forcibly promote the reform of the financial system. At this time, Xue Daoheng was the backbone of the opposition. Xue Daoheng once assisted Gao Yang to fight against Jiangzuo in the south, and now he respected him very much. The late emperor attacked Xue Daoheng in his later years and sent him to Lingnan. At that time, he was the general manager of Yangzhou and helped him with righteousness and planned to keep him in the Yangzhou Palace. After inheriting the throne, he once wanted to summon him to the center, but Xue Daoheng insisted on his ruling philosophy and firmly opposed the emperor's reform. The emperor was angry and raised his butcher knife.

Pei Yun made great contributions to the reform and reform, and was deeply favored by the emperor, but the reform did not achieve the expected results. On the contrary, it intensified the contradictions. Both the powerful and the farmers, including local governments, were full of resentment towards the emperor and the radical reform officials in the center, and anger was accumulating little by little. At this time, the emperor gathered the national strength to launch an Eastern Expedition, and the contradictions broke out.

Xue Deyin was very clear about the deep-seated reasons for the death of his father Xue Daoheng, but this conflict of ruling philosophy could not be put forward. He could only blame the emperor's selfish desires. The emperor's killing of the old ministers of the late emperor and the remnants of the prince. However, at this time, Jialan tore off the cloak of the central power struggle and pointed directly at the essence. After all, Xue Daoheng, as a member of the noble family and a member of the vested interest group, did not agree with the wealth distribution plan formulated by the emperor and the reformists.

Jialan's profound understanding of the national politics surprised Xue Deyin very much. It was hard for him to imagine that these words actually came from Jialan's mouth, a barbaric and fierce garrison from the wilderness of the northwest.

How could Jialan know these things? Xue Deyin naturally attributed it to Pei Shiju's teachings. Jialan is a close confidant of the Huangmen Minister Pei Shiju, and Pei Shiju is a reformist, but he has always been low-key and has relatively gentle means. Unlike the violent and radical censor Pei Yun, what Xue Deyin can't figure out is how could an outstanding man from a noble family like Pei Shiju favor a martial artist who kills people like a dog? How could he use how he let Jialan understand and understand the secrets behind the current court power struggle?

With these doubts, Xue Deyin followed Jialan to Jicheng, Zhuojun. At this moment, he was facing a very urgent question, where did he do it?

Galan brought him to Liaodong just to avoid the upcoming storm and save his and his family's lives. Galan promised to never hand it over to Pei Shiju, but in fact, even if Galan gave him to Pei Shiju, as long as he closed his mouth, what could Pei Shiju get?

"Galan, we have arrived in Zhuo County, Jicheng, and the Eastern Expedition Headquarters, which is close to the Liaodong battlefield. At this time, can you tell me, your real purpose in bringing me here?"

In a simple military tent, Xue Deyin sat on a Hu chair, holding a black chess piece, looking at Jia Lan, who was sitting opposite the chess scale, and asked slowly.

This is a temporary camp set up by the Eastern Expedition Base Camp in a corner of the southeast of Beiyuan, which is mainly for the rest of the army coming from all over the country. The camp covers a wide area, with tents standing against the mountains and rivers, in an orderly manner, and all kinds of facilities are available. Even musical musicians are bright and radiant. Of course, if you want to drink and visit prostitutes, you must go out to the military city outside the village, as long as you have enough "Kaihuang Wuzhu" or "white money".

Ashinasulu, wearing an orange-yellow military uniform, sat beside Galan, holding her cheek with her little hands, frowned, and trying hard to guess Xue Deyin's words. Along the way, she devoted herself to learning Chinese dialect, and now she has mastered some common words and can more or less understand some Chinese dialects.

The white chess piece was gently twisted, and Galan glanced at him quietly, with a faint smile on the corner of his mouth, and a hoarse voice slowly came out, "Did you hear that the emperor is coming, and the sir has a new plan?"

Xue Deyin frowned and sighed worriedly, "I'm worried about meeting someone I know."

"Sir is not worried about meeting someone you know." Galan smiled, "Sir is afraid that the person you know will be pulled into the vortex of death and life again. Am I right?"

"Don't call yourself 'me', Deyin's face suddenly turned serious, "This is not the northwest or the northeast, but the palace, which is the center, and you must be cautious in your words and deeds."

Luo shouted at Galan.

"Wrong!" Xue Deyin shook his hand repeatedly and corrected, "Son, you should call him "Son".

Su Luo's pretty face turned red and he lowered his head embarrassedly. In recent days, Xue Deyin has taught her many basic etiquettes, which are necessary for the noble families and royal families of the palace. If nothing unexpected happens, Su Luo will be able to reunite with his parents soon, and may even meet the emperor. Learning these etiquettes will be of great help to her, so she learned them very seriously, but unfortunately, due to the obstacles in language communication, she often makes mistakes.

Galan reached out to touch Suro's head and gave her an encouragement smile, "I...oh no, it's someone, I'm not used to it, but I can adapt to it quickly when I follow the local customs."

"The third prince is better than me... Oh no, no, yes, learn faster than me." Sulu asked in a low voice, "Does he want to stay here?"

"Yes, he wants to stay here to meet the emperor. He also wants Shi Yu and Li Te knights to stay here too." Galan once again reached out to touch Suro's head, his eyes showing reluctance, "You want to stay here too, because Khan and Kehe Dun will rush to Linshuo Palace with the emperor."

Sulu looked very excited and anxious. She had heard Galan say this more than once, and she was excited again and again, worried, wishing she could see her father and throw herself into her mother's arms.

"Does Wen Xi Gong follow the emperor to fight together?" Xue Deyin suddenly asked.

Galan hesitated and thought, slowly putting the chess piece on the chess scale. Xue Deyin followed the next son almost without thinking.

"This is an opportunity for Mr.

Xue Deyin shook her head, "Even if she dies, she will never betray her."

"For someone, it's also an opportunity."

Xue Deyin shook her head, "Your opportunity is on the battlefield, not in the court." After a moment of pause, he said again, "The Li family in Longxi represents the prominent family in Guanlong, and the Changsun family in Guanzhong represents the nobles of Wuchuan in the six towns. This matter is indeed an opportunity for them, of course, including the Pei family in Hedong, Xue family and Liu family."

"The Guanlong nobles are intricate and can move their whole body with one blow. Who can keep them alone?" Jialan sneered, "Sir, are too optimistic."

"What is pessimism?"

"The people of Guanlong kill each other, and the fisherman in Shandong gained profits." Jialan sighed, "I feel sorry for the people of the world and fell into the Avici Hell."

A hint of annoyance flashed through Xue Deyin's eyes, and his five fingers rubbed the chess piece hard, and his brows were frowning deeply.

"Did you remember that when the late emperor planned the country, Yuchi Jiong, Wang Qian and Sima Xiaonan attacked at the same time, and the situation was in danger, but what was the result?"

"The plan depends on others." Xue Deyin said.

"It's the sky." Galan faced tit-for-tat.

Xue Deyin was silent for a long time and whispered, "Galan, can someone see Xue Shixiong, Wuyin Gong first?"

Before Galan could answer, he heard a sudden sound of horse hooves outside the tent.

"Ao..." Blizzard and Nightmare let out a low roar at the same time.

"Xi Yuyu..." After the man shouted, there were dense and rapid footsteps.

"Galan, Brothers Galan..." A thick and rough voice sounded outside the tent.

"Brother Xue." Jialan laughed and jumped up, "Speak of Cao Cao, Cao Cao will arrive."

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Notes:

Kaihuang Wuzhu: It was cast in 51 AD in the first year of Kaihuang in Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty, also known as "Kaihuang Wuzhu", or "Taoyan Wuzhu".

Emperor Yang of Sui opened a furnace in Yangzhou to cast tin Wuzhu, which was white in copper color, and was known as "white coins" in the world. There were also iron coins. Wuzhu of Sui was the end of my country's "two coins system".

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Chapter completed!