The irony in Lao Du's words was very strong, but it was really the truth.
The government cannot and is unwilling to take care of the livelihood of so many people. In the past, officials only knew how to make money and make their own lives better. As for the bankrupt farmers, they regarded them as a burden.
They don't look good if they starve to death, and they are prone to rebellion if they don't starve to death. It is really a great benefit for these local families to buy them and take care of them as slaves.
This was a tacit understanding between the county government and local families.
One side bankrupted them with excessive taxation, and the other side bought them cheaply as slaves and exploited them ruthlessly. As a result, both the government and the big families had a bright future. As for who was suffering, they didn't care.
but now……
Times have changed.
Guan Jing glanced at Lao Du.
"You don't need to worry about this. Let the past be in the past and it won't happen again. But now, the general has won the victory in Bingzhou and has restored it. All the Xianbei and Wuhuan people have become official slaves. Hundreds of people in Bingzhou have been restored.
Waste to be revived.
Now the people in Bingzhou who are short of people are clamoring to wait for these slaves to be converted into civilians and sent there. They will have food to eat, clothes to wear, and land to cultivate, and the court will properly arrange their lives.
."
A group of people were speechless about this.
It turns out that the imperial court needs people to populate the border, and most people will definitely not go there. Only these freed slaves are poor and have no place to go, so they can only accept the government's requirements, which is easy to handle.
Is this what emotions are like, that’s why they’re targeting us?
They all denounced the imperial court's inappropriate behavior.
Seeing that his plan failed, Lao Du still had a big move.
"Mingting, even if these people have a place to go, have you ever thought about it, we all rely on slaves to sail boats to deliver rice and supplies to Luoyang City. The slaves don't cost a lot of money, so Luoyang City
The price of food and vegetables is so cheap.
Do you think, if the slaves are dismissed, we will not be able to find anyone to transport supplies to Luoyang for a while. What will the hundreds of thousands of people inside and outside Luoyang city eat and drink? Even if we find someone, it will only cost money to hire someone.
Operate the ship to transport these things!
Since we spend money to hire people, we must spend more money than before. Originally, the profit from this matter was very small. We earned some hard-earned money, just barely not losing money. In this way, in order not to lose money, the price of food
Vegetable prices and everything else are going to go up.
This slave restriction order is not only affecting our Du family, it must be affected by many people. As a result, the selling prices of goods in the entire Luoyang City will rise, and the people in Luoyang City can't complain?"
Yes, but you still dare to threaten the government with a price increase?
Guan Jing looked at Lao Du and spoke slowly.
"Oh? The profit is very small? Barely losing money?"
"Yes, Ming Ting, you don't know that life is difficult and business is not easy to do. There was a war before, but we didn't open for several months. There are so many servants in the family who have to spend money to support them. Every day when you open your eyes,
, hundreds of people were eating, drinking and eating, waiting for me to serve them!
They are asking for food, and I am suffering. If I don’t pay, who will give me food? They still want me to support them, and now the court wants to dismiss them. Doesn’t this make our life difficult?
?The imperial court is too ill-considered!"
Lao Du vomited his bitterness with a sad face.
Guan Jing looked at Lao Du for a while and smiled.
This was the first time he smiled at Lao Du and others, but this smile didn't look so sincere, but had a hint of joking in it.
"The Du family started to engage in Yishui transportation about six years ago. Six years ago, your Du family had only 200 acres of land. Now, the number of acres of your Du family's land has exceeded 5,000 acres. In six years, the family property has increased twenty-five times.
.
This is called making a small profit? This is called living a life that is unbearable. Even if you really can't live, won't you sell your land? Don't you know how to sell your houses? With so much land and houses, if you sell just a little, it will be enough for your family to eat.
You can eat all you want, so what else do you have to worry about?”
"This this……"
Lao Du looked at Guan Jing's smiling face and shivered for no reason, and his whole back was immediately soaked with cold sweat.
How does this guy know how his own industry is developing?
Do you still know it so clearly?
Who revealed it?
In order to avoid taxes, they bribed previous government officials and clerks to underreport the number of acres of land every year. Just last year, the Du family reported only 500 acres of land, but in fact it was more than 500 acres.
Thousands of acres.
But this is entirely the result of cooperating with the government. The account books should be very beautiful. All the accounts have been settled with money. Even if someone checks the accounts, they can't find it out. They shouldn't be discovered!
Not only Lao Du felt scared, but everyone else who came with him also felt scared.
Their family property is somewhat watery. In order to avoid government taxes, they will choose to cooperate with local officials and use various means to conceal the number of acres, thereby paying as little tax as possible and retaining as much as possible for their own use.
This is how their family property was accumulated bit by bit through "hard work and hard work".
If the government has figured out the actual property of the Du family, doesn't it mean that...the government also controls the amount of their actual property?
Isn't this too terrible?
Guan Jing looked at the sudden change in the faces of the people around him, and the smile on his face became even bigger.
"Last year, a friend of mine participated in the liquidation of a wealthy family. He wrote to me and told me that these wealthy families hide their wealth in various ways."
Guan Jing said with a smile: "What concerns me the most is the way they hide the number of acres of land. The most direct way is of course to cooperate with local officials and conceal the report. But if someone comes from Luoyang to investigate, that method is also
There are many.
Either spend money to buy it off, or if the person cherishes feathers and can't be bought off, then they can use the geographical advantage to collude with the local government to hide it, or they can temporarily falsify the accounts, put the land on the heads of some people they can control, or create all kinds of things.
A traffic accident prevents those who come down to investigate from reaching their destination.
There are really many ways, and there are always ways that they can think of, and there are always local officials who cooperate, so the wealth found after they were liquidated is really amazing. I was stunned after seeing it, and it took me a while to realize it.
"
After Guan Jing said these words with a smile, Lao Du and the others looked at him blankly, not knowing how to answer his questions.
After all the methods were told to him, this guy was indeed not an easy guy to deal with. So what should he do next?
Their minds go blank.
Guan Jing saw that they were silent and put away his smile.
"So, the profit is very small? It's just hard-earned money? Du Jun, there are some things that the government doesn't say, but don't think that the government doesn't know. Just lie to other people. In front of me, it's better to tell the truth.
There are too many people who want to do Yishui transportation, and you are not missing. If you can't do it, then don't do it. I will arrange for someone else to do it. It won't delay the people in Luoyang City from eating food for a day, but
You'll be in big trouble.
The general has explicitly prohibited any increase in prices of materials related to people's lives. If there are real difficulties, they must be reported to the government for approval. Hoarding and raising prices at will. Do you think your neck is harder than the steel knife in the hands of the officers and soldiers at the door?
?”
Lao Du looked into Guan Jing's eyes and shivered again for no reason, broke out in more cold sweats, and felt that everything from his soul to his limbs was stiff.
"Nothing? Is there no land hidden or no tax paid? Du Jun, let me say it again, don't lie to the court. The court knows everything. It just doesn't want to argue with you. If you must argue with the court, then I will only
I can say that you are very wrong."
Guan Jing looked at Lao Du almost with a dead look in his eyes. Lao Du was so frightened that he couldn't say a word.
Not to mention Lao Du, everyone else was the same. The more courageous ones had their calves trembling, while the less courageous ones were already stiff.
They never expected that everything they did would be in the hands of the imperial court, nor did they expect that the imperial court would be so determined to promote the implementation of the slave restriction order.
If all this was planned by Liu Bei, then the only way for them to take it is to give in and follow whatever the court says.