At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

Will the emperor kill?

Whose position will the emperor demote?

Is this a special tactic used by the emperor to punish officials?

Everyone has doubts about such a question.

But the emperor's final disposition was beyond everyone's expectations.

Order all officials who have occupied the land to return the land to the government within a time limit, and let the government arrange it again.

Then, write it off.

The emperor ordered that all the officials' criminal petitions be piled up on the large square outside the Luoyang Palace, and they were lit with a fire and burned down.

The raging fire burned away all the criminal evidence, and the officials watched all this in dumbfounded.

Then the emperor announced that he had shown magnanimity to his officials only once, and that there would be no next time.

This time, he spared all the offenders without accountability.

But next time, he will kill the offenders to bleed, and he does not rule out the possibility of restoring the ancient cruel punishment to deal with the offenders.

So, don't challenge the possibility next time.

Chapter 1284 Cai Mao's situation is rather embarrassing

The crimes of the central officials will be written off, and no records will be left, as long as the land is returned within a time limit.

This wave is central, and the next wave is local.

He will order local officials to submit a statement to explain the matter, and if there is a matter to return the land, the past will be forgotten.

This is the only chance.

If you miss it, there will be no next time, so don't have any fluke mentality.

The soaring flames inexplicably soothed the worries in the hearts of the officials.

Then, with a certain sense of relief of being a new person, they devoted themselves to the next work with full emotions.

Clear the land and pay taxes.

Since then, there will be no more opposition to this policy at the official level.

Guo Peng's policy will be fully implemented, and no one will oppose it, and no one will dare to resist.

An event that should have caused nationwide turmoil and even shaken the foundation of the country, with such an incident, temporarily drew a pause at the official level.

Then, there is the local level.

After the central will was completely condensed and unified, the central will of the Wei Empire was unprecedentedly strong.

That is to wipe out the rebellious powers in the world, destroy their manors, and end the old era.

Since I have to pay taxes, you guys can never escape.

I can't be the only victim!

There was an immediate shift in positions among officials, as well as a shift in thinking.

Right now, right now.

In early May, the Jizhou rebellion was completely subsided.

After receiving the support of 32 reinforcements, General Peng Qi of the Guard Army led the army to conquer Gaoyang County in Hejian County, the last county town occupied by powerful rebels, and beheaded all [-] powerful leaders guarding it. Luoyang.

So far, the Jizhou rebellion has completely subsided, and with the full cooperation of the regular army and the militia, all the powerful and powerful Jizhou have been defeated.

Afterwards, there was a comprehensive liquidation of the Qingzhang Land Team.

The land, gold and silver properties, houses, tenants, etc. of the tyrants will be calculated one by one and reported to the court to complete the entire liquidation process.

After that, those who should be punished will be punished, those who should be killed will be killed, those who should be rewarded will be rewarded, and those who should be promoted and raised will be promoted and raised.

Under the cruel liquidation, the reactionary forces of the old era in Jizhou were wiped out.

Followed by Youzhou counter-insurgency.

Youzhou is very powerful, but the Youzhou militia and garrison are also very strong.

After the garrison defeated the rebels besieging Ji County and rescued the Governor Xian Yufu, Xian Yufu took on the role of assistant.

He discussed the current situation in Youzhou with the generals of the garrison, and after a little analysis, he went to various places with the army to quell the rebellion and support the militiamen who were fighting hard.

For counties with very powerful forces such as Youbeiping County, the militia could not resist, and the villages and villages suffered heavy losses. The Youzhou garrison rushed in, defeated the main force of the rebel army with an overwhelmingly superior cavalry, and divided and surrounded them in several cities. , and then began the siege operation.

The rebellion in Youzhou was very fierce, there were many battles, and there were many battlefields. The rebellion of the tyrants was aimed at the goal of separatist Hebei, and the battles were particularly brave.

But this is of no use. Facing the well-equipped and powerful regular army, the mighty rebels' confrontation is very fragile. They can be crushed by a single charge of the regular army.

Xian Yufu felt that these tyrants didn't consider the deep foundation and powerful army of the Guo Wei Empire at all, and they still kept their thinking in the pre-Han era.

Initiating such an attack against the Wei Empire, they thought that Guo Peng could be forced to compromise just like Liu Hong was forced to compromise.

Liu Hong and Guo Peng are completely two levels of emperors, okay?

This group of people will rebel if they don't listen to advice, and it may implicate him and Xian Yuyin's official career at that time. Such a rebellion occurred in Youzhou under his rule, and his response was not timely, unable to stop it, and could not be quelled in time. There were not small casualties in Youzhou.

This is his dereliction of duty as the governor of Youzhou. Once Guo Peng gets angry and pursues the responsibility, what should he do?

Thinking of this, Xian Yufu was very annoyed, so he was very ruthless towards those people.

As long as a powerful family is defeated, their entire clan will be killed immediately, no one will be kept, no matter men, women, old or young... Of course, the pretty young women are still kept.

He wanted to gather these beautiful women and send them to Luoyang to present to the emperor as prisoners.

I feel that not only can the emperor be happy, but maybe the emperor can forgive his mistakes to some extent.

In this way, his official career should be preserved.

That's what Xian Yufu imagined.

So he fought hard, tried his best to make up for his mistakes, and finally dealt with all the powerful rebels in the whole territory of Youzhou in the middle and late May.

The rebellion in Youzhou was thus quelled, and no more waves were caused. The manor tyrants who were the representatives of the old era were defeated and completely liquidated.

Cai Mao also had the same thoughts and experiences as Xian Yufu.

As the governor of Jingzhou, Cai Mao's situation has always been embarrassing.

On the one hand, he was eager to gain a higher political status and interests during the Wei Empire, to develop to a higher level, to enter the central government, to dominate the situation, and to spend his life in vain.

On the other hand, how to balance the relationship between the central government and the Jingzhou local government is the biggest obstacle in his career.

Jingzhou surrendered voluntarily at the beginning, Jingnan did not count, and Jingbei surrendered.

After Liu Biao's death, they wiped out the forces left by Liu Biao, and entered the Wei Empire era in the form of Jingzhou belonging to Jingzhou people.

Except for a few people who were unwilling to surrender, such as Huang Zu in Jiangxia County, Wei Jun used the army to solve Huang Zu, and other places surrendered smoothly, without much disturbance.

So this creates a problem.

Nanyang County and Nanjun, the two most populous counties, are under the complete control of the local gentry and tyrants in Jingzhou. They surrendered to Guo Peng, and Guo Peng wanted to ensure that their interests were not violated.

At that time, not long after Guo Peng ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, the internal and external environment was far less secure than it is now, and there were still threats from the north, south, west and east.

So after thinking about it, Guo Peng did not launch a liquidation against Nanjun and Nanyang counties, and the forces of the Wei Central Committee turned a blind eye to these two counties and ignored them.

The two parties worked together and gave each other face. I collected taxes symbolically, and you paid taxes symbolically, giving each other some face.

It's been a few years without incident, and now it's here.

It is now the time when the emperor wants to pay taxes for land integration.

The emperor tore up the political agreement of the year, and the emperor wanted to betray everyone's efforts.

It was too domineering to deal with the political interests of the scholars before, and now it is to deal with the economic interests of the tyrants. They don’t want to share any profits.

But when the matter was not completely settled, they still had a little fantasy, thinking that it might be a lot of thunder and little rain.

But with the outbreak of the Guo Yang incident and the results of the emperor's handling of Guo Yang, everyone knew that the emperor's will was unshakable, and everyone knew that the emperor would never joke.

The only king was beaten, and the governors of Qingzhou and Jizhou were sacked and almost killed.

The strength and determination of Qingzhang Land are reflected in these things, no one will be forgiven, no one will be pardoned, must pay taxes, must obey, or die.

The powerful sect commanders of Nanyang County and Nanjun felt full of fear and anger.

They were unwilling to compromise, and they asked Cai Mao, the governor of Jingzhou, to convey their opinions to the emperor. It is okay to pay more, but it is absolutely impossible to measure the land in an all-round way and pay taxes together!

Cai Mao was caught in a dilemma.

Chapter 1285 One Thousand 190 Five Makes Jingzhou the Jingzhou of Our Jingzhou People Again

In fact, such things had already planted the seeds of struggle when Jingzhou surrendered.

It's just that it hasn't erupted for years, and now it's happening.

The emperor wants to get back the power he didn't get back then, but the tyrants are unwilling to hand over these powers and the huge interests represented behind them.

The contradictions became very sharp and irreconcilable.

In order to ensure his status and career prospects, Cai Mao tried to convene a meeting. Everyone could speak freely at the meeting, say what they wanted to say, and reconcile as much as possible.

The meeting was held, but overall, no good results were achieved.

"What Your Majesty wants is to clear the land and pay taxes together. The amount of tax paid is not high. It is not an unacceptable amount for you, a big family, right? What is there to say? Besides, you are not the only ones. Pay, the whole world has to pay."

Cai Mao tried to persuade them to accept the emperor's request, and set an example: "Cai's land will be handed over to the imperial court Qingzhang, and then they will pay taxes as they please. Cai will never complain!"

Cai Mao felt that what he said would persuade them to accept the conditions.

But he was wrong.

"You are the governor of Jingzhou. You can make as much money as you want, but you can't get what you want? But Mr. Cai, we don't have your place!"

"We have nothing but these lands and these family businesses, and now we have to pay taxes?"

"Emissary Cai, ask yourself, if you are going to do something that didn't happen in the previous dynasty, is this a good condition?"

"What you want to do is your business. We don't want to do this. Your family has a big business. Our family business has been accumulated by generations of ancestors. We can't lose a penny!"

The powerful landowners have repeatedly stated that they will never accept conditions that are detrimental to their interests.

"What about a little tax? Will it make you lose your food?"

Cai Mao was very annoyed: "Who doesn't pay taxes? I've heard about all the officials in the central government. One counts as the other. They all report their land to the imperial court. Why are you special?"

"That's the way it is. Why should I pay taxes like those Li Shus when I have a family background of two thousand stones? Is it because my ancestors worked so hard to make me pay taxes to the court?"

"They are officials, I don't want to be an official! I don't want an official position, I just want no one to care about my family business!"

"Cai Degui! Now that you are an official of the imperial court, you just keep talking to the imperial court. You are really an eagle dog of the imperial court!"

The tyrants are not only ungrateful, but also constantly mocking Cai Mao.

They brought up the core conflict, saying that this is not only a dispute of interests, but also a dispute of identity. Their identities are different, and they are not the same as those Lishu untouchables who pay taxes.

Their status is the same as the ruling class, they are not the ruled, they do not need to pay taxes like the ruled.

If you want to ask them to collect taxes, you must be prepared to pay the price!

We will never pay taxes!

Cai Mao was very angry, but when he thought about it carefully, he suddenly understood why the emperor took the risk to do such a thing, knowing that it would cause widespread resistance and even more intense confrontation.

The emperor is telling them that they are also the ruled, even if they are in the ruling class, in the eyes of the emperor, they are the same and need to pay taxes.

In the eyes of the emperor, there are no them, only the people of the world. They need to pay taxes like the people of the world, and they also belong to the people of the world.

Only the emperor is the only aloof.

Cai Hao should have thought earlier that the emperor who can promote Li Shu to become an official and replace the scholars would not care about the idea of ​​"ruling the world together with XX".

The emperor is a strong dictator, a rare solitary husband in the world, no matter how high your official position is and how powerful you are, in the eyes of the emperor, you are a citizen who needs to pay taxes.