Li Yan saw the report sent by Cui Tao and found that Gaochang was indeed different from Shazhou and Guazhou.
Li Xiuzhang, the governor of Xizhou, was an old governor who had been serving in Xizhou for a long time and was deeply rooted in Xizhou. At that time, he imprisoned Shang Bo's envoy.
Compared with Zhang Xian who took the initiative to join him and Jia Sishun who joined his subordinates semi-passively, Li Xiuzhang was obviously even less at ease with Li Yan.
Li Yan simply imprisoned Li Xiuzhang and sent a team of players to evacuate him.
However, Li Xiuzhang was wise and knew that he was not wanted by Li Yan, so he simply handed over all the power of the governor's office to Cui Tao and meditated at home behind closed doors every day.
If Li Xiuzhang hadn't had a good reputation in the history books and died for his country when the Tubo invaded Longyou, Li Yan would have just regarded him as a slippery officialdom veteran.
However, those who can serve as governor of a state in the Tang Dynasty must be top-notch people.
The situation in Xizhou is indeed complicated. Cui Tao was already in a state of panic as soon as he took over. He sent a message to Li Yan asking for help, which was just two words - "Important person".
No wonder Li Xiuzhang, an old governor, handed over power so simply. Xizhou had too many problems.
The old aristocrats of the Gaochang Kingdom. When Emperor Taizong destroyed the Gaochang Kingdom, he moved the Gaochang royal family to Xijing and became Anlehou, but the old aristocrats of Gaochang were left behind.
At that time, he still had to compete with the Turks for control of Longyou, so Taizong won over the old nobles, retained their territories, and even allowed them to keep private slaves.
Today, more than a dozen old aristocratic families in and around Gaochang City have raised thousands of slaves and are a force that cannot be underestimated in Gaochang City.
In addition to the old aristocracy, Gaochang is known as the City of Thousand Buddhas, and Buddhism also has considerable influence.
Moreover, the Buddhist gate in Gaochang City opened the door to welcome King Jianning in. These monks did not violate the laws of the Tang Dynasty. It is impossible to destroy them like Leiyin Temple. All the states in Anxi believe in Buddhism, so there is obviously no reason to directly destroy Buddhism. To Jianning
King Ning's future development will be unfavorable.
In addition, the problem of powerful powerful people in Gaochang is similar to that of Shazhou and Guazhou. The common people have their land annexed and become tenants of powerful powerful families.
It's just that in addition to the powerful in Gaochang, there are also monasteries and old nobles who will annex land.
In addition, Beiting and Longyou armies all have backyards in Gaochang.
Staying in the backyard is the permanent establishment of each military envoy outside the jurisdiction, which is equivalent to the military town's office in important areas.
All the major military envoys have their own backyards in Xijing, which is equivalent to the offices of each military envoy in Beijing.
Gaochang is an important hub for the transfer of military supplies from military towns in the northern part of Longyou. The military supplies of Beiting and several other Jiedu Prefectures and Duhu Prefectures are transported from Gaochang, so all armies have their own backyards in Gaochang.
As soon as Cui Tao took over the government affairs of Xizhou, he was blocked several times by these arrogant military officers who stayed in the backyard of Jiedushi, each time asking for military rations and ordnance. These guys wanted to surround the governor's office to collect debts.
No wonder Li Xiuzhang, an old fox, immediately handed over the seal of the governor's office. This governor of Xizhou is really not made by ordinary people!
Xizhou is one of the most prosperous states in Longyou Road, with a population of nearly 50,000 households.
This population is even larger than Shazhou and Guazhou combined. Various problems are complicated and frustrating.
In Cui Tao's letter to Li Yan, he described the biggest problem in Xizhou, which was the slave issue.
The old aristocracy kept slaves, and the descendants of slaves are still slaves.
In addition, the old nobles also accepted people who sold themselves and turned them into slaves.
Although the governors of Xizhou in the past dynasties have been cracking down on this kind of behavior, the number of slaves kept by the old nobles of Xizhou is getting larger and larger.
Cui Tao's work of counting the fields in Xizhou was strongly obstructed by the old nobles.
The fields of these old nobles were connected with each other, and their families had strong servants as private soldiers. Their in-laws had been helping each other for generations. They were comparable to the powerful families in the Central Plains. They could be said to be an important force influencing Gaochang City.
Cui Tao put the abolition of slavery at the top of his agenda in his speech. He proposed that in order to stabilize Gaochang, the problem of the old aristocrats keeping slaves must be solved.
But how to solve the slave problem in Gaochang?
Li Yan opened the player forum, and Gao Chang's issue really aroused a big discussion among the players.
It is difficult for players living in modern times to understand the backward system of slavery, let alone why there is still a market for slavery in Gaochang.
Jiang Lun, who judged the salt and iron matters, explained in a forum post that most slaves were not willing to be slaves, but they had no choice but to do so because they could not survive.
Although Gaochang is rich, all the land that can be cultivated has its owner. If they don't join the big families as slaves, these people will not be able to survive at all.
Jiang Lun also wrote in the post that the abolitionist movement in many Western countries arose along with industrialization.
Because factories were short of manpower, more free people were needed. At this time, slave owners with large manpower became the object of hostility to the entire society.
And because of the factories, slaves could survive without their masters, so a large-scale slave escape movement broke out.
This is also the reason why slavery basically disappeared after entering the industrial era.
For the Tang Dynasty at this time, farming was still the means for most people to make a living.
After reading Jiang Lun's post, Li Yan had new ideas about Xizhou's problem.
In this case, the slave problem is a development problem. As long as slaves can live without slave owners, the slave problem in Xizhou can be easily solved.
As for how to develop Xizhou, those players who have saved contribution points and are preparing to become lords must have their own ideas.
There are 50,000 households in Xizhou, and there are 20 villages in Gaochang City alone. Near Gaochang City, most of the old nobles live in Gaochang City and places close to Gaochang City. There are also nearly 80 villages close to Gaochang City.
These are places where the forces of all parties are intertwined and where the old aristocratic power is entrenched.
Li Yan decided that these places should still be under the jurisdiction of the governor's office and not be handed over to the local chief.
Next is the li that is far away from Gaochang City and relatively remote. There are a total of 200 li.
Xizhou deserves to be called Shangzhou, and its population is much denser than Shazhou and Guazhou, with an average of about two hundred households in one area.
But at this time, Li Yan discovered that although there were already 1,450 players in his hand, he had gained another luck point this month.
[County title: 100 points per month]
[Control Longyou: 100 points per month]
[Control Guazhou: 100 points per month]
[Control Shazhou: 300 points per month]
[Initial control of Xizhou, 200 points per month]
[Victory at Baowen Mountain, get 300 luck points]
Including the balance from February, Li Yan now has 1,200 luck points.
But the territory is so big that the players at hand are stretched thin.
There are 90 li long players in Shazhou and Guazhou, and there are also many official players in the shogunate and the governor's offices of the two states.
There are more than 700 players in the army, and the remaining players are scattered in various industries.
Li Yan decided to first select a group of village chiefs who performed well in Shazhou and Guazhou and grant them a new territory in Xizhou.
Then take out some territories and recover the contribution points from the players.
But this time, the mission of the players in Xizhou is to develop industry!