Zhu Nao

With Zhu Nao's command, officials at all levels in the state government finally got organized and got busy.In a few days, the dilapidated state capital was repaired to a certain extent, and all the losses that should be claimed should be completed.All the rosters, account books, etc. were sorted out and sent to Jun Nao.

After reading all the account books, Zhu Nao understood the predicament the state government was facing, so he summoned the corresponding officials to discuss governance countermeasures.

After everyone arrived, Zhu Nao cleared his throat and went straight to the point: "I don't need to tell you about the current situation of the state capital. You should know something about it. I looked at the roster, and the number of households this year compared with five years ago , is actually less than one-fifth of what it was five years ago; bandits robbed and murdered every month, and the law and order in the state was in chaos; Right now, there are three urgent tasks, one is to stabilize the people's livelihood, the other is to control the calamity of bandits, and the third is to fill the treasury. If you have any good measures to calm the people, feel free to suggest them."

A square-faced man stood up first.He used to be Song Rentou's staff, named Yang Chengping, and Zhu Nao was in urgent need of employment, so he also kept him.

Yang Chengping said: "Zhuzhou Mu, if you want to stabilize the people's livelihood, you must first deal with the bandits, otherwise the people's livelihood will never be stable. According to me, the state government should recruit new soldiers as soon as possible to plan a grand plan to destroy the bandits."

Although Qian Qing has been demoted, being in charge of taxes is still an important position, so he also attended today's meeting.Hearing Yang Chengping's words, he couldn't help but want to say something, but just as his butt left the seat, he hesitated for a moment, and then sat down sullenly.He has made big mistakes before, and now he is afraid to express his opinions freely.

Zhu Nao glanced at him and said, "Qian Qing, what do you want to say?"

With Zhu Nao's encouragement, Qian Qing dared to speak: "The treasury has no money at all now. It costs money to recruit soldiers, and it also costs money to hunt down bandits. What should we use to suppress bandits?"

Back when Song Rentou was still there, Qian Qing and Yang Chengping had argued about the same topic several times.Qian Qing is the main peace faction who advocates recruiting peace, and Yang Chengping is the main combat faction who advocates the suppression of thieves.

Yang Chengping now has more confidence than before, because the facts have proved that Qian Qing's method will not work.He said loudly: "Then increase the number of tax items, collect taxes from the people, and fill the treasury to prepare for the needs of suppressing thieves."

Without waiting for others to object, he continued: "I know that if the tax is increased, the people will complain, but there is no way to do it! If the cancer of bandits is not eradicated, the chaos in this state will never be settled. We must cut through the mess quickly, first deal with the bandits, and then reduce taxes to let the people recuperate, and the people will understand."

Qian Qing shook his head and objected: "Now there are mountains everywhere in the middle of Sichuan, and there are bandits all over the mountains. How long will it take to wipe them all out? How much money will it cost? It won't work! Shall we cut taxes?"

Yang Chengping said angrily: "If you don't suppress the thieves, do you still want to recruit security again? Don't you think the trouble you caused is not big enough?"

In addition to the two of them, some other officials joined in, and the two factions argued endlessly.

The biggest dilemma facing the state capital today is not how many troubles there are, but that these troubles are intertwined.If you want to stabilize people's livelihood, you have to deal with bandits. If you want to deal with bandits, you have to spend money. If you want to spend money, you have to collect taxes first. Once taxes are collected, people's livelihood will be in chaos.It's like a tangled mess, no matter how you manage it, you can't sort it out.

Yang Chengping was too lazy to waste words with Qian Qing, and directly turned his attention to Zhu Nao: "Zhuzhou Mu, let's suppress the thieves!"

That day Zhu Nao had publicly mocked Qian Qing's strategy of recruiting security as nonsense, and Yang Chengping believed that Zhu Nao would definitely support him.Unexpectedly, Zhu Nao had a funny face on his face: "What are you thinking? Who asked you to discuss how to deal with bandits?"

Yang Chengping was immediately stunned.Isn't this topic brought up by Zhu Nao?If they don't discuss how to quell the Bandit Rebellion, then why should they discuss it?

The two factions stopped arguing, and the lobby finally became quiet.

At this moment, Dou Ziyi finally got up: "Just now the state pastor has already said that there are three top priorities. The first is to stabilize the people's livelihood, the second is to control the disaster of bandits, and the third is to fill the treasury. What the state pastor asked, It is also a good strategy for the peace of the people. Instead, you are arguing about how to deal with bandits, and even talking about raising taxes. Isn’t it completely upside down? According to me, there are too many kinds of exorbitant taxes under the name of the state capital, and the people have already been overwhelmed. Our first priority What we should do is to exempt all kinds of taxes and restore the people's trust in the state capital."

Everyone looked at Dou Ziyi blankly.Just now Jun Nao did say three important things, but no one cared about the order he said, didn't he just say it casually?

Some people even suspected that Dou Ziyi was speculating about the officer's intentions indiscriminately, and slapped the horse's ass on the horse's leg.If you say that others are upside down, he himself is upside down, right? !No matter how you think about it, the order should be to raise money, destroy thieves, and calm the people. How could it be that the people are first relieved, then the thieves are eliminated, and finally the money is raised? ?

Unexpectedly, Zhu Nao actually followed Dou Ziyi's words: "Indeed, there are too many miscellaneous taxes, and even the people use water conservancy to irrigate the fields. Who came up with this? I came to ask you , Which taxes can be cancelled, it should be canceled as soon as possible.”

Everyone was completely dumbfounded now.Even if there is no tax increase, there is still a tax cut? !

Yang Chengping immediately stood up and objected: "Zhou Mu, it is absolutely impossible! If the bandits are not wiped out first, how can the people be stable? How many people are persecuted by the bandits and have nowhere to go, so they do it themselves. Start bandits to persecute others! Controlling bandits is the top priority!"

Zhu Nao crossed his hands, shrugged, and said, "I don't think so. There are only a very small number of bandits who become bandits after being persecuted by bandits. As far as I know, most people fall into the grass after all because they can't stand the exploitation of the government."

Yang Chengping was taken aback: "Why, how come?"

He immediately thought of a few examples, and said, "I'm afraid Zhou Mu doesn't know much about it. This year, the first few villages that emerged in Langzhong were originally farmers. When they were farmers, they were infested by bandits all the year round. They were robbed by bandits, and the remaining food was not enough to eat. They had no way to survive, so they had to abandon their fields and run away. They raised their villages and townships to set up hills, and started to rob other villages. How can this kind of thing be regarded as the government’s responsibility? What about the fault?"

Zhu Nao calmly said: "They can't live because they were robbed by bandits? Isn't it because they can't live because they are robbed by bandits and then exploited by the government? Even if they become bandits, they still have to make peace with each other." Other bandits are vying for territory and food, and there is no peace in the world. The only thing better than before is that they no longer have to pay taxes to the government after becoming bandits."

Yang Chengping obviously didn't expect this level, and was immediately speechless.

On the surface, there are indeed many ordinary people who were forced to become bandits by bandits.In the past, they cultivated the land well, but when the bandits came, they couldn't stand it anymore, so they themselves followed the bandit flag and made trouble.Isn't this the scourge caused by bandits?But if you think about it carefully, you will find that things are not so simple.There are only a few mountain villages like Tulangzhai that are driven to extinction, and most of the bandits still grab a wave here and steal a wave there.As far as ordinary people are concerned, they may be able to withstand the exploitation of the government, or they may be able to withstand the intrusion of bandits, but they have to endure both the exploitation of the government and the intrusion of bandits. their way of life.They had no choice but to become thieves, at least if they became thieves, they would no longer have to pay the government.

Dou Ziyi continued: "The life of bandits is not so easy. Bandits build villages in the mountains, and there are few arable fields in the mountains. Dazhai can still collect protection fees from passing business travelers, and small villages often can only rely on mountain products and robbery for a living. , it’s just barely making a living. If being a farmer can be richer than being a bandit, then there will be no more farmers falling into bandits, and some small cottages may take the initiative to abandon the village and return to the field. Therefore, Zhuzhou Mu puts the stability of the people’s livelihood in the first place , this honest and righteous path is smooth.”

After what they said, all the officials who had been arguing in the hall died down.Now there is a big fire in Sichuan, whether it is recruiting security or suppressing bandits, officials have been arguing about how to put out the fire.The purpose of Zhu Nao's move is not to extinguish the fire, but to control the fire so that the fire does not burn any more - this is very important.You must know that not only did all the methods that the officials tossed about in the past fail to put out the fire, but they also added more firewood to the fire, which made the fire uncontrollable.

After convincing everyone, Zhu Nao put various tax items on the table, and let the officials discuss which taxes really need to be retained.Everything else that can be repealed shall be repealed.

There are still many controversies in the course of the discussion.Although most officials agreed that the people should be put at ease first, but Zhu Nao demanded that nine out of ten exorbitant taxes should be eliminated, but everyone had a lot of opinions, and there were not a few opponents.

When Zhu Nao swiped a pen and crossed out several tax items, Qian Qing finally couldn't help it, and said worriedly: "Zhou Mu, I really can't do it!"

Zhu Nao looked up at him: "What's wrong?"

Qian Qing said with a mournful face: "Yes, yes, the stability of the people's livelihood should be the first priority. But I don't understand why the State Pastor's Association puts the filling of the treasury last. Once the tax reduction decree is implemented, it will not be easy to change it overnight. And If we want to deal with the bandits, we will spend a lot of money whether it is suppression or appeasement! There is only so little money left in our treasury, and it may not be enough for everyone to eat, and the salaries of officials will not be paid out. How will we deal with it then? Bandits?"

When it comes to officials' salaries, many officials have complicated expressions on their faces.This is actually a question they are worried about, but they have never been ashamed to ask, so when they exempted various taxes, they thought of many reasons to oppose it.

Looking around at everyone's expressions, Zhu Nao already knew their worries in his heart.

He put down the pen in his hand, smiled slightly, and said: "Everyone, the state government is so difficult now, if the salary cannot be paid in autumn, then it will be owed for a while. When the treasury has money, I will make it up for you immediately. Interest will not be bad for you. I said it on the first day I took office, I don’t care about your past mistakes. Is it possible that the greedy money in the past few years is not enough for you to take care of your family’s small life? Not enough for you to feel at ease for the government Doing business? If any of you have never been corrupt, and your life is difficult after a few months of salary, then come to me, I will personally subsidize you, and you will never be hungry."

After finishing speaking, he leaned back in his chair and smiled more gently: "Master Honshu is so magnanimous, I believe you will also be sympathetic."

"Ping!" Cheng Jingzhe, who had been standing behind him all the time, drew his knife out of its sheath expressionlessly, squinted, and a fierce light flashed in his eyes.Then he slowly retracted the knife back into its sheath.

Everyone trembled in fright, how dare they talk too much?

Qian Qing wiped the cold sweat from his brow, and said bravely: "Uh, the matter of officials' salaries is still secondary, the main thing is bandits..."

Zhu Nao waved his hands casually: "Bandits are not a big deal. I have an idea in mind, so you don't have to worry too much. Let's continue discussing other strategies to appease the people's livelihood."

The officials were dumbfounded again.It is clear that the most difficult thing is to control the bandits. If you are not careful, it may lead to disaster.How did it come to this Xinzhou shepherd's mouth that it turned out to be no big deal? ?They simply wondered if this Xinzhou shepherd was too young and naive.But after getting in touch with him during this period of time, Zhu Nao doesn't look like an embroidered pillow.

For a while, everyone was confused.Is this Zhuzhou Mu extremely arrogant, or is he a genius?