Liu Xin was suspicious. It was almost the end of the year and there was no government in the world. What urgent message could be sent from the imperial court? He hurriedly ordered: "Send it up quickly."
After he read the urgent letter from beginning to end, he couldn't help but laugh. He handed it to Jushu and said, "It's true that someone gave me a pillow just after I fell asleep. Mr. Yu, take a good look at it. This crime is not sent to your door."
come yet?"
Han Xi also came forward, read the urgent letter, and quickly said to Liu Xin: "Congratulations, lord, in this way, the teacher has become famous!"
Jushou also said happily: "According to the requirements of this emergency, as long as the plan is proper, everything will be done for the public interest. Compared with seeking personal revenge, this state of affairs is hugely different!"
Liu Xin stood up and said with a decisive look on his face: "Gong and Zhicai, you two should work hard and use this time to plan carefully. After the first month, we will use troops against them. This time I will send troops to the four counties."
The problem is solved!"
Ju Shou and Han Xi also responded excitedly in unison: "I obey the order!"
It turns out that the world has returned to peace, and the prefects of various counties have also paid taxes to Beijing one after another, but after all, only a few can pay the full amount. Liu Hong, who is greedy for money, was very dissatisfied when he saw this, and thought about trying to get various places to make up for the payment, so he
He handed over this task to Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong, whom he trusted most. Zhang Rang was responsible for collecting taxes from the north, and Zhao Zhong was responsible for collecting taxes from the south.
Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong were originally wearing the same pair of trousers. They were favored by Liu Hong at the same time. One was called father by Liu Hong, and the other was called mother by Liu Hong. Their statuses were originally about the same. Later, one after another,
Zhang Rang did several things very well, which made Liu Hong very happy. Gradually, his status in Liu Hong's mind was higher than that of Zhao Zhong. This collection of taxes was a good job, but relatively speaking, the north was better than the south.
Being richer means that Zhang's position is better than that of Zhao Zhong. From this, it can be seen that the positions of the two people have deviated.
Zhao Zhong did not find the reasons within himself, but blamed all of this on Liu Xin. Because Zhang Rang brought good news to Liu Hong several times when he was most troubled, which could be regarded as a timely help, which made him more and more angry.
The more trust he gained from Liu Hong, and most of these good news were related to Liu Xin. In addition, Zhao Zhong also heard that Zhang Rang had received countless benefits from Liu Xin, and he became even more jealous.
Zhao Zhong was not stupid. He understood in his heart that the tax collected by the prefects of various counties was used not only to squander it for themselves, but also to strengthen their own strength. These prefects dared to ignore the imperial decrees time and time again, which shows that they are in the local
A force has been formed in the world, and every force, big or small, needs money to maintain it. No matter who comes to collect taxes, the prefects of the counties will not be willing to pay for it.
So why is it said that collecting taxes is a bad job? Because neither Zhang Rang nor Zhao Zhong thought about actually collecting the taxes. They just wanted to take this opportunity to make a big profit. Of course, if both
It would be best if he could collect taxes and line his own pockets. When Liu Hong asked him to collect taxes from the south, Zhao Zhong first thought of Liu Xin. Liu Xin was the shepherd of Jingzhou and should be responsible for the taxes of the whole state.
No matter what reason he had to collect the money, it would not work for him. As long as he could collect the tax arrears in Jingzhou, it would be a great achievement if he did not receive even a single copper coin from other places. As for how Liu Xin went to the prefects under his jurisdiction
Collecting tax arrears is not something he considers anymore.
In the past two years, Jingzhou has owed more than 400 million in taxes to the imperial court. Liu Xin's asking for payment from those eunuchs is tantamount to seeking the skin of a tiger. In these years, several eunuchs have withheld the taxes that should have been handed over to the imperial court and recruited troops on a large scale.
, who is willing to hand over the money obediently as he continues to expand his strength? If Liu Xin can fight with those eunuchs and cause both sides to lose, that will make Zhao Zhong feel even more happy.
What Zhao Zhong gave Liu Xin this time was an urgent decree, stipulating that he must hand over all tax arrears to the court before June next year. Although this was not an imperial edict, the final words were very tough and vaguely threatened Liu Xin's official position.
mean.
The tax arrears of more than 400 million are nothing to Liu Xin now. He just read the financial and tax statements of the five counties of Jingxiang sent by Jushu a few days ago. Now the assets under his control that can be used at any time have reached 150.
More than one billion, of course, a large part of it comes from the income from the sale of land and shops. Liu Xin doesn't want to cause trouble, so he will definitely hand over this money to the court, but he will not hand it over so readily.
.If he did not reach out to the prefects of various counties and handed over the tax arrears in full, the direct consequence would be to arouse Liu Hong's suspicion, and the greedy emperor would definitely ask him where he got so much money.
A few days later, Cai Mao was also replaced by Kuai Liang in exchange for Huang She. Liu Xin had already learned through the phantom how Cai Mao was captured. He was very angry and refused to see him at all. He directly ordered him to stay at home and think about his mistakes.
As the Spring Festival approaches, everything in Jingzhou, which was still in crisis just now, seems to have suddenly returned to calm. In order not to alert others, Liu Xin did a great job in her drama, deliberately pretending to let the past go without further investigation, and spend the Spring Festival peacefully.
Even the court's pursuit of tax arrears was not revealed at all.
Before the Spring Festival, he specially took Cai Yan back to her parents' home. Cai Yong and his wife were shocked at first, because after a woman gets married, she cannot return to her parents' home without special circumstances. But Liu Xin ignored this, and the two families divorced.
Being so close, it would be okay not to go back in normal times. Now that the New Year is coming, it would be unreasonable not to go back to see my parents' home. Cai Yong and his wife had not seen their precious daughter for several months, and they both had tears in their eyes.
When they learned that Cai Yan was pregnant with Liujia, the old couple were even more delighted.
On New Year's Eve, Liu Xin first went to the orphanage to visit the orphans, then went to the military camp to visit the soldiers on duty, and then returned to the mansion to hold various ceremonies.
The Baodian box was once again placed on the altar table. Cai Yan had long heard the magical story about this box and was very interested in the box in front of him that changed Liu Xin's fate. Whether Liu Zhong or Liu Jian, they treated the box in their hands
They all attach great importance to it. Women in the family are not allowed to touch the box, or even look at it. Now the entire box is in Liu Xin's hands, but he will not abide by this rule, and even if he wants to abide by this rule
Ma Yun would not agree to the rules. She could always hold this box in her hand and play with it. Liu Xin remembered that her adoptive father once said that this box came from the palace and seemed to be used by a concubine to store jewelry.
.
Cai Yan asked to take a look, and Liu Xin naturally had no objection and handed it directly to her. The box was very exquisitely made, so Cai Yan held it in her hand and looked at it repeatedly without saying a word.
Liu Xin smiled and said: "It's just a box. Look why you are so careful. If it hadn't been passed down by your adoptive father, I would have given it to you for jewelry."
Cai Yan suddenly said: "Husband, this box doesn't look like it is used to store jewelry."
Liu Xin knew that she was from a well-known family, and Cai Yong had many friends with literati and noble officials, so they must be well-informed. If she suspected that it was not used to store jewelry, then it was really possible that it was not used to store jewelry, so she asked:
"Yan'er, what do you think it is used for?"
Cai Yan frowned and thought for a long time, then said: "I can't tell. Anyway, this box is a bit special, so I'd better put it away first."
During the dinner, Liu Xin also invited a guest, Guo Jia's mother Lin, who stayed alone in Xiangyang. Every time she saw this hard-working and simple woman, Liu Xin felt a sense of respect from the bottom of her heart.
As usual, there was another group worship on the first day of the new year, and then there was a long holiday. Liu Xin also stayed at the house to play with her children and lived happily. Even the entire Xiangyang City had a peaceful and peaceful atmosphere.
In fact, under this calm surface, there is an undercurrent surging, and Liu Xin never relaxes in his preparations for action. Under the command of Jushou, the phantom secret agents are divided into several teams and have sneaked into various counties in Jiangxia batch by batch to investigate separately.
According to various news, Xu Huang's First Army and Zhang Fei's Second Army have also canceled all vacations, and the vigilance of Feihu's personal guards has been significantly strengthened.
At this time, the benefits of Liu Xin's division of the army into local armies and regular legions were revealed. The two armies carried out a series of war preparations around the Spring Festival. Not only did they prepare enough food and grass, but they also mobilized troops from the third and fourth legions.
A part of the troops were replenished. Since the mobilization of grain and supplies did not need to go through the mobilization of local officials and troops, the prefects of each county had no right to interfere. Therefore, the news was well blocked, and even Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue were
I was kept in the dark and had no warning in advance.
On the second day of February in the third year of Zhongping, Liu Xin suddenly summoned civil and military officials to the Prefectural Mufu Mansion again to discuss matters. Kuai Liang and others had already put Huang Zu's matter behind them, and thought that Liu Xin's summons to them now was just a matter of
I want to arrange various tasks for the new year.
Liu Xin slowly walked into the hall, went straight to the head and sat down, and said to everyone: "Everyone, the imperial court has sent an urgent document to demand tax arrears from Jingzhou for the past two years. As you all know, in the past two years, Xiangyang, Nanyang
The taxes of the five counties have been paid in full, and the four counties that owe taxes are Jiangxia, Lingling, Wuling, and Guiyang. Among them, Jiangxia owes the most taxes. Over the years, they have openly defied the court's laws and refused to pay taxes.
They also ignored all the official documents I sent them. How is their behavior different from treason? As the saying goes, to capture the thief first, capture the king. I have now decided to send troops to attack Jiangxia from now on!"
Kuai Liang hurriedly stood up and said: "Go back to my lord, our swordsmen and soldiers will destroy all lives. I hope my lord will think twice."
Liu Xin waved her hand at him and said: "Mr. Zirou, I know that you have always been benevolent and righteous, which I appreciate very much. However, in the face of righteousness, it is inevitable that someone will have to make sacrifices. This is unavoidable. Should we just let these prefects ignore it?
Do you want to separate one country from another according to national law? If things continue like this, the country will no longer be a country!"
Kuai Liang hesitated and said: "My lord, Huang Zu and others did not openly rebel. If they sent troops to attack him because of the incident last year, it would be okay. Now that the incident has been revealed, I am afraid that if we send troops again, some troops will be unknown."