Qin Lingjun looked at her back and said with a smile: "Commander, you guessed it right again. As expected, Polo Buhua is eager to invite us back!"
Zhang Yangquan said with a smile: "Li Er is not Zhang Jiusi. Who among the world's heroes doesn't recognize him? Polo Buhua must not be able to sleep well at night. He is most afraid that we will turn to Li Er, so he will naturally send someone to invite us!"
Qin Lingjun nodded and said, "Do you still remember Zhao Junyong? He is Li Er's old subordinate. If he knew that Li Er was in Zhenzhou, he would not know how to react."
Zhang Yangquan's expression became more serious and he said in a deep voice: "Not only Zhao Junyong, but also Liu Futong from Henan, Xu Shouhui from Jiangnan and others may take action."
Qin Lingjun said: "I often hear people say that Liu Futong and Xu Shouhui are heroes among people. I wonder what kind of figures they are in the eyes of military advisors?"
Zhang Yangquan smiled and said: "Liu Futong is indeed a hero. As for Xu Shouhui..." After a pause, he said: "It's really hard to say about this person."
Xu Shouhui was once the most powerful rebel army, with nearly one million troops. However, it was controlled by Ni Wenjun and Chen Youliang successively, which is really ridiculous.
Qin Lingjun did not ask any more questions and said softly: "My little sister and Uncle Guo should be able to arrive in Zhenzhou today!"
Zhang Yangquan turned his head and looked to the west and said: "Counting the time, it should be here soon. I hope they don't attract anyone's attention!"
Outside Zhenzhou City, Qin Lingsi raised her head and looked at the Li-character flag on the city wall without saying a word, silently lost in thought.
Suddenly there was a sound and the door was pushed open. Li Er, Hou Hou, Zhao Desheng, Wang Da and others came out with two teams of people, arranged on the left and right.
The monkey came over with a smile and said: "Welcome the second village master and the third village master!"
Qin Lingsi smiled and rode through the gate. After entering the city, she saw that the streets were wide and there were many shops, and she couldn't help but feel excited.
Although this city is far less prosperous than Jiangdu, it is not bad either.
It is late at night, and there is no one on the street. Qin Lingsi and Guo Niansheng are both wearing black cloaks and hoods, and Qin Lingsi is also wearing a veil.
The two of them entered the city at night because Zhang Yangquan had ordered before leaving that they must not be seen, lest anyone find out that Li Er was still involved with Longtan Village.
After the two entered the city, they got off their horses and went directly to the tower.
Qin Lingsi winked at the monkey and deliberately slowed down her pace. The monkey understood and slowly followed the crowd.
"Li Er didn't do anything special after he entered the city, right?" Qin Lingsi stared at Li Er's back and asked in a low voice.
Monkey hurriedly said: "No, as soon as we captured the city, Brother Li ordered the county government and government treasury to be sealed off, and he also issued an order to calm the people, strictly prohibiting the sergeants from harassing the people. The city soon returned to stability, and the people did not reject us too much!"
Qin Lingsi was silent for a while and then asked: "How much food is there in the city?"
The monkey said: "There are only more than a thousand stones of grain, and even less silver in the treasury, less than five hundred taels."
Qin Lingsi said disappointedly: "Why are you so poor?"
The monkey smiled and said: "But Brother Li took us to the port and robbed many ships, both official ships and merchant ships. One of the official ships was full of iron ore, and another official ship had two boxes of tea.
, all came from Jiqing Mansion!"
Qin Lingsi was overjoyed: "Okay, I'll send them all back to the village tomorrow!"
At this time, everyone had already climbed up the tower, and the two of them also came to the gate of the tower.
Guo Niansheng took off his hood and said hurriedly: "Are all the civil servants I asked you to keep still there?"
Wang Dahaha laughed and said: "I've kept them all. There are more than thirty civil servants in total, and they are all locked up in the county government office. I really don't know what you want these people to do?"
Guo Niansheng touched his short beard and said with a smile: "These people are all treasures. Recently, there have been more and more people in the village. They eat, drink, and have sex. It's hard to manage. With the help of these people who are proficient in internal affairs, I can take a breather."
”
Li Erdao: "Master Sanzhai, I ordered people to collect all the household registration books in Zhenzhou. Do you want to check them?"
Guo Niansheng rubbed his hands and said happily: "Li Qianhu is worthy of being the general marshal who has managed Xuzhou, but when I came here, the military advisor said that Zhenzhou is under your control. The leader of the second village and I just came here to take a look and bring some talents back to the village.
”
Zhao Desheng wondered: "In addition to those civil servants, what kind of talents are needed?"
Guo Niansheng said: "The military adviser said that craftsmen in all fields are needed, especially blacksmiths and masons!"
Li Er nodded and said: "I will arrange this tomorrow." After a pause, he asked: "I wonder if the military advisor and the leader of the village will let me recruit soldiers in Zhenzhou?"
Qin Ling thought: "Zhenzhou only has so little food, can it afford more soldiers?"
Li Er laughed loudly and said: "This is actually easy to solve. Just invite those wealthy households to a restaurant for a cup of tea, and they will consciously donate money and food."
Wang laughed loudly and said: "Let's just rob these rich households. These rich people are not good things!"
Qin Lingsi smiled and said: "If you are not afraid of being punished by military regulations, I will be the first to support you in doing so!"
Wang Da touched his head and said with a smile: "That's all I said."
Qin Ling thought: "Let's use Li Er's method and invite all the rich households in the city over tomorrow. But this is only a temporary measure, what should we do in the future?"
Li Erdao: "Second village owners don't have to worry. We can collect taxes from the people in autumn and winter. I've seen that Zhenzhou is quite wealthy, with more than 40,000 households. The government used to collect taxes under various categories. We can reduce the taxes."
If we only collect taxes and grain, we can support at least 20,000 soldiers."
There were two main types of taxation in the Yuan Dynasty: tax and grain tax and tax payment.
Taxes and grains are divided into north and south, the north is divided into dings, and the south is divided into land.
Kecha has many names. At the beginning, there were only silk materials and silver wrapping. Later, with the corruption of the Yuan Dynasty, the names of Kecha continued to increase. There are currently six categories of taxes, and the people's burden is extremely heavy.
After the Red Scarf Army revolted, they first returned the official fields and the fields of the rich to the common people, and only collected taxes and grains, not subject fees, so they were very popular among the common people.
This is also one of the reasons why the Red Turban Army has grown rapidly in various places.
Qin Lingsi immediately asked Li Er humbly for advice and asked Li Er for detailed advice on his experience in governing the city. Guo Niansheng also listened with interest, adding his own opinions from time to time.
Everyone discussed it all night, and the next day, Li Er and Hou Hou invited the most famous wealthy family in Zhenzhou to the largest teahouse in the city.
These wealthy households all knew the rules of the Red Scarf Army and knew the consequences of not cooperating. Without waiting for Li Erduo to give a hint, they donated money and food one after another, and even took the initiative to donate their land.
Qin Lingsi hid in the cubicle and felt trembling all over when she heard the amount read out by everyone.
After the tea party, I counted more than 40,000 taels of silver and more than 20,000 stones of grain.
In fact, this is all thanks to Sesame Li's great reputation. If he were a leader of the rebel army like Zhang Jiusi who had just rebelled, these people would never be so happy.
This amount of money and food was enough to support 20,000 soldiers. Qin Lingsi quickly asked Monkey and others to post a recruitment order.
Li Er selected a few eloquent guys to criticize Yuan Ting's oppression and exploitation of the people beside the announcement, and told the people that they would not have to pay so much tax in the future and could live a good life.
However, if you want to maintain a good life, you must defeat the official army and need someone to defend the city.
The common people have been oppressed for a long time. Once they were encouraged, they immediately signed up to join the army.
On the night of the third day, Guo Niansheng returned to Longtan Village with a group of officials and craftsmen, taking with him twenty thousand taels of silver and five carts of iron ore.
Qin Lingsi sent Zhao Desheng with a thousand people to escort him, while he stayed behind.
Originally, she planned to leave together and inform Zhang Yangquan and Qin Lingjun about the situation in Zhenzhou, but she left Li Er behind because Li Er received three letters.
One was sent by Liu Futong, one was sent by Zhao Junyong, and one was sent by Peng Yingyu.
Liu Futong's letter was the simplest. Li Er not only survived but also reoccupied Zhenzhou, which made him very happy.
In addition, he briefly explained his situation. At present, the Henan Red Scarf Army was unable to support itself and was in a difficult situation. He hoped that Li Er would retake Xuzhou and that the two would echo each other and jointly overthrow Bao Yuan.
Zhao Junyong's letter was extremely sincere, hoping that Li Er would go to Haozhou and that he would continue to support Li Er as the leader of the Red Turban Army.
Finally, there is a letter from Peng Yingyu. He plans to lead troops to attack Jiqing Mansion and hopes that Li Er can send troops to help.