Taiping Inn

Jiangling wine tulips, jade bowls hold amber light. But the owner can get drunk with guests and don’t know where it is a foreign land.

Li Xuandu was playing with a folding fan in his hand, twelve gears, red sandalwood fan bones, golden paper fan surface, there were no landscapes or beauty on the fan surface, only this seven-character poem.

This was given by Zhang Baigui back then, and the poem was written by him.

Jiangling City is about 300 miles away from Sanhu County, mostly flat Yilu Guan Road. It is rare for the group to travel in the day. Fortunately, after the autumn begins, the weather is not as fierce as it is cool, cool and pleasant, and I don’t feel the sun is It was difficult to get over it, and I soon entered the territory of Jiangling Prefecture City.

When I arrived in front of Jiangling City, my eyes suddenly became clear.

A city, bordering the river in the south, the Han River in the north, the Shuzhou in the west, and the Xiaozhou in the south, is a strategic focus and an important town in the south.

Looking out, you can vaguely see a tower in the city that is several feet taller than the city wall of Jiangling. It is towering and independent, and you can vaguely see the blue-black roof, like a crane standing out in the flock of chickens.

Li Xuandu stretched out his fingers and pointed at the looking building and asked, "Is that the Tinglei Tower that Brother Song once mentioned?"

Hu Liang nodded, "It should be."

Li Xuan looked at it narrowly and subconsciously wanted to hold the hilt of the sword at his waist. Because there was no sword, he felt empty.

He suddenly woke up and had never worn a sword for many years.

Li Xuandu simply withdrew his hand, and after a moment of silence, he said softly, "Go into the city."

Since it is an important town in the southeast and a capital city, the inspection of the city gate is naturally very strict. However, the group of people has all the relevant road quotations, and there are also Shen Shuangmei, a man from the public, so he has no twists and turns to enter the city smoothly. .

After entering the city, the streets of the city began to become lively. Because the little girl wanted to ride a horse, she hugged her eyebrows in front of her. The little girl sat on the back of the horse and looked around, her eyes full of novelty.

Li Xuandu and Hu Liang drove slowly. Hu Liang saw that he was like a man in the martial arts world. In fact, seriously, people rely on clothes and horses rely on saddles. Although there is a saying that "wearing a dragon robe does not look like a prince", To a large extent, it depends on how he dressed. When Hu Liang wore the military officer robe of the deputy general, he was also a leader of the army. At this time, Li Xuan was sitting alone in the carriage, dressed in a scholarly outfit, and with a folding fan in his hand, it was a perfect style for famous scholars in Jiangnan.

After a while, the group of people walked around the city, because it was getting late, they did not go to Fenglei Sect to visit immediately, but found an inn. If you want to say that the inn in this city is not ordinary, covering a large area, and the guest rooms are divided into two Wait, the ordinary rooms on the second floor are no different from ordinary rooms, and the higher one is the backyard of the main building, which is divided into separate small courtyards for the family to stay. Li Xuan They spent three Taiping money to buy a yard.

After Li Xuandu moved in, Hu Liang took the little girl to the lobby to have meals. Li Xuandu and Shen Shuangmei stayed in the backyard because they had no appetite.

When we arrived in Jiangnan, there was still not much cooler in early autumn.

Li Xuandu moved out a recliner and sat in the yard. He was blown by the gentle evening breeze and gently swayed the folding fan, which was quite comfortable.

Shen Shuangmei sat not far away and asked curiously: "The Zi Mansion is not like a swordsman, nor is it like a scholar, but rather like a scholar."

The two of them are no longer familiar with each other, and Li Xuan doesn't mind saying anything about heart-to-heart talk, "In the past few years, I have been like a scholar without any power, which is the so-called "destroyer in the world." ', At that time, I was in a place with green mountains and clear waters, cultivated three acres of idle fields, planted some rice and vegetables, and built a thatched cottage. Every summer night, the house was stuffy and hot, so I had to cool down in the yard. Every winter, it is bitter and cold, and I have to chop wood to make fire to keep warm. Looking back now, it really seems like a different life.”

"What kind of experience was that?" Shen Shuang asked with her eyebrows tilted.

Li Xuandu's eyes showed recollections and said softly: "Shuangmei's family has served the imperial court for generations, and they are not even related to poverty and humbleness, so that is an experience you have never experienced. To put it simply, eight The words are enough to summarize, work from sunrise and rest from sunset."

Shen Shuangmei had never thought deeply about the profound meaning of these eight words. After silently chanting it, she shook her head.

Li Xuandu closed the folding fan in his hand and said slowly, "I sleep alone at the third o'clock on the sun. Who is the god? I am the god. In the eyes of ordinary people, being able to sleep until the third o'clock on the sun is already a day for the gods. Because I was digging food in the ground , the most fair. If you put in a little effort, you will get some food. If you slack off, you will go hungry. I was almost the same at that time. Although I was not afraid of hunger, I had to farm every day. From then on, I realized the suffering of the people. .”

Li Xuan paused and said, "My three acres of land can be regarded as the best fertile land, and the harvest is naturally excellent. It can be replaced by ordinary people's families, mostly barren land, even if it is used all day and month. Working, once you encounter a bad year, is still not enough to fill your stomach. In addition, they have to pay taxes, and the difficulty of their lives is unimaginable. The sages say that harsh policies are more powerful than tigers, which is by no means exaggerated and false. "

Shen Shuangmei first heard Li Xuandu talk about his past experiences. She only knew that Li Xuandu disappeared after the battle in the imperial capital, but she didn't know what he did during this period. She was shocked at this time. , and she also heard a little different meaning from Li Xuandu's words.

"Tax?" These two words were bitten lightly by Shen Shuangmei, and she seemed a little unbelievable.

"Yes, taxes." Li Xuandu's voice slightly heavier: "My Great Wei Dynasty had a ancestral system, and officials, royal families, and nobles did not pay taxes. At the beginning of the founding of the country, he still didn't realize what was going on. But since the founding of the country, officials and gentry have already It was dozens of times that of the beginning of the country and spread throughout the world. When the people encountered a famine and could not survive, they sold their land to gentry at a low price, and were willing to be tenants because gentry did not pay taxes. In this way, there was a royal family in the upper class. The clans had officials at all levels and local gentry at the bottom. The annexed land and farms occupied half of the world and did not accept taxes. The common people could cultivate less than half of the world, but they had to pay taxes on the world."

Shen Shuangmei really couldn't believe it. For her, who came from a family of officials, she always thought that it was natural not to pay taxes, but she had never thought about it.

Shen Shuangmei looked at Li Xuandu with a calm face, and it seemed that something had been pulled in her heart.

Li Xuandu continued, "I have experienced most of the sufferings of the people. Zhang Rong said back then, "It is fate. Only by doing our best can we obey destiny. First, we must do our best, and then wait for destiny." I think this sentence That's right, just take the case you are going to investigate. The Liaodong Jin tent is invading every year, and the northwest riots are raging every year, endangering the world. However, the national treasury is empty every year, and even the soldiers' military pay, food and grass must be moved to the east and west, and they will eat the food for the ninth month. But after eating the grain, what else can I eat? Can these things be justified if I just arrest a few eunuchs? As long as the world's major traits are not removed for a day, even if these eunuchs are arrested, there will be other later generations who will continue to arrest them. It's hard to catch. Maybe you think I'm too extreme and have to do everything slowly, but hundreds of years have passed, has it been changed halfway? Instead, it's getting worse and worse!"

Shen Shuang opened her eyebrows and wanted to speak, but she didn't know where to start, and finally turned into a deep sigh.

Li Xuandu slowly unfolded the folding fan in his hand, looked at the seven-character poem on the fan, and said slowly: "It was because Zhang Xiang saw this back then that he decided to reform the system, and in addition to this great disadvantage in the world. If he wanted to reform, he would be the first to be affected. It is these gentry officials and royal relatives who do not pay taxes. This is to cut off their wealth and dig their foundation. Cutting off their wealth is like killing parents. Do you think they can't hold a grudge against Zhang Xiang? It's naturally aligned. Putting the person who wants to reform and reform to death is a move that will affect the whole body. In the battle of the imperial capital, the four ministers led by Xiang Zhang lost a lot because they lost to Empress Dowager Xie, but After losing to the entire temple, Empress Dowager Xie secretly occupied a high position, but she just exchanged power for power."

Li Xuandu gently shook the folding fan and fanned a cool feeling, "Zhang Xiang once said, 'It's like entering the fire, you can get a cool door.' Standing in the fire pit, you feel like you are in an ice cellar, whether it's done or not, Zhang Xiang It is already difficult for him to escape unstoppably. He will have the outcome today, which is expected and reasonable."

Shen Shuangmei remained silent. She looked at Li Xuandu calmly, and suddenly understood why her father followed the Zhang Xiangye wholeheartedly and had no regrets until his death.

Li Xuandu closed the folding fan and sighed: "Talking on paper is of no use to the country. It was also hard to fulfill his ambitions when he brought up a three-foot sword to serve the country. Now, I don't know where the road is."

Shen Shuangmei listened quietly, her heart full of sadness.

The country's situation is like this, and nothing can I do.