"Old sir, can you please introduce yourself?" Immediately after the battle, Zhao Weiji went to meet the master behind the rebels.

"I didn't expect that the mighty King Wuyue of the Song Empire would be interested in an old man like me? It would be okay to introduce yourself. My surname is Guo, my name is Bailue, and my courtesy name is Shusheng. I can be considered a person from Shu."

"Your surname is Guo? What is your relationship with Guo Anshi?" The real name of Guo Anshi in Zhao Weiji's mouth is Guo Chongtao. He was an important minister in the Later Tang Dynasty during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. He served as the three masters of two generations. He was the most responsible for the surprise attack on the Liang Dynasty and a certain minister who advised the emperor.

He was given an iron ticket and spared ten deaths. Not only that, it was also his contribution to the later Tang Dynasty's destruction of the former Shu. Later, because of his great achievements, he was attacked by Li Cong, and Xiang Yansi, Ma Yangui and Queen Liu teamed up to trap him and died with a stick.

Three sons were killed, but two younger sons survived.

"I didn't expect that there are still people who remember my father's name. It's really rare." Hearing that Zhao Weiji pointed out his background at once, Guo Bailue couldn't help but be a little surprised.

"I didn't expect that I actually met the descendants of Guo Anshi in Shu. I just don't know what grudges you, the son of an important minister of the Later Tang Dynasty, have against our Song Dynasty. Why did you help the rebels and kill my Imperial Guards?"

"Grudge? I personally have no grievances against the imperial court. After all, the Later Tang Dynasty has been subjugated for many years, and our Guo family has become accustomed to a life of anonymity. But the problem is that the Song Dynasty court pushed people too hard, and corrupt officials were rampant in Shu.

No one has paid attention to it for many years, and not only that, they even issued decrees and awards. Do you think this peasant uprising is simply caused by the refugees?"

Zhao Weiji understood the reason for the entire uprising as soon as he heard Guo Bailue's words. This was indeed an uprising where the government forced the people to rebel.

"I wonder if Mr. Guo can give me a real name so that I can start investigating this matter?"

"Personal names? Qi Yuanzhen, Zhang Shu. There is also something called gambling. You should check it out carefully."

After Zhao Weiji ordered his people to write down these names, he asked Guo Bailue a new question: "I have always been curious about one thing, that is, how did you come up with the idea of ​​using piles of earth to attack the city?"

"I didn't expect that the prince would be interested in the old man's miserable method of siege."

"Of course I'm interested. This is not a poor siege method. Your siege method really opened my eyes, so I want to ask for advice."

"Actually, it's not a big deal. It's just a method I came up with after experiencing a mudslide. The mudslide caused a large amount of sand to accumulate under the city wall and gradually formed a mound as high as the city wall. People can easily climb up from the mound.

Entering the city wall, this is how you think of the siege method. However, this method is only suitable for teams like the peasant army that do not have many siege equipment. Your prince has invented new siege equipment since he joined the army.

I guess I don’t like the old-fashioned methods thought up by country people like this."

After listening to Guo Bailuo's words, Zhao Weiji felt as if twenty-five rats were living in him, with hundreds of claws scratching his heart. Just like that? Just like that, he came up with the siege method that Mongolia Muhuali later used to sweep across the Jin Kingdom? This man is definitely not that simple.

, I still have to ask.

"Then how do you conclude that our army will definitely attack Langzhong County first instead of Mianzhou? I think attacking Mianzhou would also be a good choice at that time."

"The Langzhong garrison has suffered a new defeat and its morale is low. I think any general will hope to quickly and easily eliminate the enemy's troops. After all, everyone knows that picking weak persimmons is easy. I think even if the prince wants to attack Mianzhou first,

I can't resist the general's intention. After all, the prince has not been a willful person since his debut."

"It seems that the old gentleman knows me very well."

"Generally, no matter how depressed our Guo family is, it is not that low. You can still read the "Shilin Daily" published by the prince."

From the above conversation, Zhao Weiji can draw a conclusion that this person is not extraordinary, he is extremely intelligent and resourceful, unlike his father who is smart but has few strategies. It is just that he always feels that there is something hidden in his heart that has not been revealed.

came out, and he seemed to pay a lot of attention to himself.

Since he still had something hidden, Zhao Weiji decided to dig it out. However, digging directly might not reveal anything, so Zhao Weiji decided to use the tactic of play hard to get to see if he could force everything out of this man.

"Thank you sir for your advice. I still have a lot of things to deal with here, so I won't disturb you here. However, because you helped the rebels, you will probably be implicated as well. You can enjoy your last days."

After saying these words, Zhao Weiji turned around and rushed to this room.

Seeing that Zhao Weiji was about to leave, Guo Bailuo suddenly said: "It is true that I am guilty of helping the rebels, but your majestic prince openly recruited refugees and rebels. Isn't it not guilty?"

Upon hearing Guo Bailue's words, Zhao Weiji knew that the show was coming. This guy really paid a lot of attention to him, and his family was not as poor as he said.

Of course, what Guo Bailue said did indeed exist. Zhao Weiji was indeed absorbing the refugees from Shu and the rebels who had surrendered. However, it was not used as a private army, but as a reserve of labor force. The tricks used were nothing more than

Just taking advantage of the loopholes in the Song Dynasty's laws.

The laws of the Song Dynasty severely restricted personal freedom. Basically, farmers were bound to the land where they lived. If they wanted to move from one county to another, there were very troublesome procedures. This kind of unscientific

The system naturally stems from the lack of taxation system in the Song Dynasty.

The main tax system in the early Song Dynasty basically followed the two tax laws of the Tang Dynasty, including household tax and local tax. The household tax is what we usually refer to as the head tax, and the local tax is based on the value of the crops produced by the land owned by your farmers.

Collect taxes.

But the question arises, how to ensure that no one evades taxes? The only way is to tie the farmers to their place of residence and stop them from running around, so that they can be found when it is time to collect taxes. So in this way,

The population mobility in the Song Dynasty was very poor.

Although such a law binds farmers, it is not without loopholes that can be exploited. Such loopholes are natural disasters[***]. Once a natural disaster[***] occurs, a large number of refugees will inevitably be generated. Find such refugees.

I will have no money to give you when I go back. Moreover, if there is a rebellion similar to the one in Shu, there will be a tragedy such as a large loss of household registration information. Zhao Weiji is taking advantage of such a tragedy to plunder a large amount from Shu.

population.

Once these people have settled down in his territory, they can legitimately become households in his territory when the imperial court conducts another household registration survey and cleanup.

What's more, many of the refugees Zhao Weiji absorbed this time did not actually settle in the Zhejiang and Zhejiang areas. Instead, they were directly sent by Zhao Weiji to Liuqiu, a loosely controlled area in the Song Dynasty. In this way, he had a large number of hidden people, and the war would be over anyway.

People are going to die. Once the counter-insurgency war is over, there will be no evidence to prove it.

"You can eat whatever you want, but you can't talk nonsense. Since sir, you said that I have absorbed a large number of exiled people and rebel prisoners, where is the evidence?"

"Evidence? There are many ships on the Yangtze River and Weihe River from the merchant houses of your Wuyue King's Chamber of Commerce. Don't tell me that they are all used to transport goods? Although your Wuyue King's Chamber of Commerce is already a behemoth, but with such a

It’s probably impossible for many ships to transport goods, right? If the officials really want to investigate, they may not be able to find out the whereabouts of these people.”

"Sir, tell me straight away, what do you want from me?"

"Then you are not going to deny secretly accumulating population?"

"What difference does it make if you deny it or not? The sir and the forces behind him have worked hard to investigate everything about me, just to get something from me. I, Zhao Weiji, am not a good person, even if you can't give me anything on the issue of absorbing refugees.

If it causes a blow, you can also find leverage on me on other issues, so what difference does it make if you don't deny it?"

"Since the prince is so cheerful, then the old man should just tell the truth. The old Guo family wants to serve the prince."

Upon hearing Guo Bailue's words, Zhao Weiji felt a little unnatural. To be honest, only his wife Chai Yu fully knew about his ambitions, while his brother Zhao Weizheng only knew a little bit. Moreover, Zhao Weiji has regarded his grandson very well in Zhao Guangyi's eyes over the years.

, in short, he would not touch anything that the imperial court valued, and he didn’t know what the Guo family liked about him?

"I'm just a free prince. Although I know how to fight, I haven't been reused in recent years. I wonder what you and your family see in me that makes me worthy of your whole family's service?"

"Your Majesty, there is no need to be self-effacing. Ever since His Majesty became famous during the Northern Expedition, our Guo family has begun to pay attention to His Majesty. For such a long time, it can be said that His Majesty has performed extremely well no matter which field he enters. And in my opinion, His Majesty's

My ambition is not to be as simple as being a free prince. Many of the things the prince has done so far are related to the lifeblood of the Song Empire."

Indeed, Zhao Weiji is now doing too many things to control the lifeblood of the Song Empire, whether it is business alliances, new schools, or overseas trade.

The current situation of redundant officials, redundant soldiers, and redundant personnel in the Song Empire has begun to take shape. Zhao Guangyi has realized that agricultural taxes can no longer support the expansion of the Song Dynasty, so in recent years, Zhao Guangyi began to establish various

Such commercial taxes are used to support national expenditures.

The largest taxpayers now are the trading houses under the Chamber of Commerce established by Zhao Weiji, as well as the increasingly frequent overseas trade with the Arab Empire under the leadership of Zhao Weiji.

In other words, the economic lifeline of the Song Dynasty is actually in his hands, Zhao Weiji, but Zhao Guangyi has not realized it yet.

In addition, in recent years, more and more "alternative talents" produced by Tsinghua Academy have begun to show their prominence in other fields that have not been paid much attention by the court. If this can really continue, there may be a

field academic reform.

Based on the above reasons, the Guo family concluded that Zhao Weiji must have great ambitions, so they prepared to use this rebellion to join Zhao Weiji's account.

For Zhao Weiji, it is naturally a dream to have talented people to work for him, but the key to the problem is not Guo Bailue, but the Guo family behind him, which can even be said to be an old force. That kind of force is called a clan.

Zhao Weiji knew how terrifying the clan was, so he had to think carefully about the Guo family's submission.

But at the same time, the counter-insurgency war had to continue, so Zhao Weiji decided to take Guo Bailuo to see what role the Guo family could play in this counter-insurgency war, and then consider whether to accept their surrender. So Guo Bailuo temporarily became

Zhao Weiji was a minor staff officer in the army.
Chapter completed!