My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 657 The Wounds of Sichuan and Chongqing
For a moment, the hall fell silent.

Qin Mi and Zhang Fang were in a difficult position. The Zhao family was their in-law, and the two families had not only married but had also been on good terms for generations.

But now that the Zhao family is so arrogant, they are both shocked and embarrassed. Especially Qin Mi, who was full of confidence before, but he never expected that his own in-laws would become the biggest obstacle.

A moment later, Liu Feng suddenly laughed.

"In the past, when I was serving the emperor in Shangluo and welcoming the emperor from Hedong, I had the honor of paying a visit to the venerable Zhao Wen. Although we only met once, the venerable Zhao Wen was a man of high moral character and great prestige. He did not look down on me because of my youth and low rank. On the contrary, he gave me much care and guidance. His earnest teachings still ring in my ears, and I am still grateful to this day."

Liu Feng wasn't exaggerating when he said this. Not only in Hedong, but also on his later trips to Luoyang, he maintained a very good relationship with the three high officials, including Zhao Wen.

As General Cao Cao's power in Luoyang grew, the Three Dukes were suppressed by him and became virtually powerless.

Under these circumstances, the Three Dukes were naturally happy to deepen their relationship with powerful local figures like Liu Feng in order to counterbalance Cao Cao's encroachment on their power.

At this point, Liu Feng paused briefly, looked around, and asked, "I have heard that the Zhao family father and son are related to Lord Zhao. I wonder what the connection is between the Zhao family father and son in Chengdu and Lord Zhao Wen?"

Zhang Song, Qin Mi, and Zhang Fang looked at each other for a moment, and then Qin Mi bowed and said, "The Zhao family now regards Zhao Yan as the head of the family. He is the cousin of Zhao Sikong, and Zhao Sikong's uncle is Zhao Diangong, a famous minister during the reign of Emperor Huan."

Liu Feng already knew the answer, but he pretended to be enlightened and clapped his hands, exclaiming, "So that's how it is. But Lord Zhao Wen is humble, kind, and virtuous, so how could his brother be so arrogant?"

Zhang Song and the others were even more embarrassed. Just as they were wondering how to answer, Liu Feng changed the subject.

"Could there be some misunderstanding that makes Zhao so resistant to the Left Clique?"

This seemingly ordinary sentence immediately sent chills down the spines of everyone present. None of these people were ordinary; most of them were either future high-ranking officials of the Shu Han dynasty or the fathers of high-ranking officials.

Liu Feng's words seemed ordinary, but in reality, they concealed a deadly intent.

The so-called misunderstanding was actually a final warning.

If there's a misunderstanding, then clear it up. If it can't be cleared up, or if there's no misunderstanding, then what else could it be but an enemy?
Zhang Song and the others naturally understood and hurriedly stepped forward to plead for mercy, saying, "Leaving aside the fact that the General and the Minister of Works have treated you so kindly, just considering the General's kindness to the people and soldiers of Shu, the Zhao family has absolutely no intention of resisting. There may be other reasons, so please grant the General a few days' leniency. We will surely be able to make him realize his mistake and sincerely apologize before the General."

After a moment of silence, Liu Feng finally nodded slowly amidst the expectant and pleading gazes of the crowd.

"In that case, we'll leave this matter to Ziqiao."

Zhang Song, Qin Mi, Zhang Fang, and the others were overjoyed and immediately prostrated themselves in gratitude.

That evening, Liu Feng hosted a banquet for everyone, but because of the Zhao family matter, apart from a few people, everyone else was somewhat distracted and clearly not interested in the banquet.

After the banquet, everyone dispersed.

There are three main reasons why Liu Feng was lenient with the Zhao family.

The first point is that the Zhao family holds an extremely high position in Shu, making them the undisputed leading family in Yizhou at present. The brothers Zhao Qian and Zhao Wen have served as the Three Dukes for multiple terms, with Zhao Qian holding the position for a full fifteen years, while Zhao Wen has now been transferred from the position of Minister of Works to Minister of Agriculture, a position he has held for nearly ten years.

After the chaos that ensued, transportation became difficult in various regions, especially in Shu, where Liu Yan's influence led to the creation of Zhang Lu in Hanzhong, effectively severing communication. Consequently, the Zhao family's influence in Luozhong was hampered by their lack of connection with Shu. Furthermore, Liu Yan and his son Liu Zhang were always wary of the Zhao family and continuously suppressed them; otherwise, the position of Prefectural Governor would not have been bypassed by Zhao Yan and instead went to Zhang Song.

Otherwise, the Zhao family's power would probably be even more terrifying.

Therefore, the Zhao family must not act rashly; even if they must act, they must first gain control of the high ground.

Liu Feng's repeated retreats, still entrusting the matter to Zhang Song and others, subtly hinted at Zheng Bo's intention to defeat Duan Yuyan.

The second reason is Huang Quan of Xindu.

Huang Quan also came from a prominent family in Shu and had many dealings with the Zhao family. Now, he was abandoned by Liu Zhang and Cao Ang and placed in Xindu.

Xindu County is located between Luocheng and Chengdu, only twenty li from Chengdu and thirty li from Luocheng, so it can be said that it is surrounded by Chengdu and Luocheng.

Liu Feng greatly admired Huang Quan and especially wanted to bring him under his command.

Therefore, Liu Feng, on the one hand, asked Zhang Song, Qin Mi, Yang Hong, Fa Zheng, Meng Da and other friends of Huang Quan to persuade him, and on the other hand, he restrained himself so as not to give Huang Quan the illusion that he was massacring local celebrities.

Don't underestimate this point. Back then, Cao Cao suffered a great loss in Yanzhou and almost died.

Liu Feng did not want to follow in the footsteps of his opponent. Although with his current strength and status, even if he were to suffer a defeat, he would at most lose only a piece of Shu territory.

The mere fact that he couldn't receive Huang Quan was enough to break Liu Feng's heart.

As for the last reason, Liu Feng had other important matters to attend to temporarily, which involved Lü Chang, He Zhi, and others.

When Lü Chang met him earlier, Lü Chang offered a plan called the "salt distribution method based on the number of mouths".

The strategy is actually quite simple: compete with powerful families for salt profits.

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the salt and iron monopoly system established during Emperor Wu's reign was almost completely reversed. In order to restore people's livelihoods, the control over salt and iron was temporarily relaxed. However, after the country gradually recovered, when the government wanted to reclaim the salt and iron monopoly, it immediately encountered fierce opposition from powerful relatives of the emperor and local magnates, and the backlash was extremely fierce.

Furthermore, the Eastern Han dynasty had already entered its middle period, and officials were greedy and corruption was rampant. Several pilot projects of government-run enterprises even resulted in losses, which directly caused the central government to lose its ability to operate and could only retain some tax collection power.

This was especially true in the Sichuan region, where the profits from salt and iron were almost entirely controlled by powerful local magnates.

The method of allocating salt based on population, proposed by Lü Chang, is quite simple: it involves identifying the salt-producing areas, counting the population, and then distributing salt accordingly.

Of course, this distribution of salt was not free; it was priced by the government.

For example, according to the policies implemented by the Ji Han dynasty in the original timeline, ordinary households received 8 taels of salt per month, military households received an additional 3 taels, and special groups such as artisans and merchants were issued "special salt purchase certificates" to purchase additional salt.

The price of this salt was quite high, and it was mandatory to purchase. On the surface, this policy seemed to exploit the common people, but a deeper analysis reveals that it was more effective at plundering the wealthy and powerful than at exploiting the common people.

The reason is simple: after the implementation of the salt quota system, the profit margin for smuggled salt production decreased significantly.

Even if smuggled salt were cheaper, the people had already bought official salt. Unless they didn't have enough to eat, there was no reason for them to continue buying salt. In fact, the people would rather save on official salt than buy smuggled salt to supplement their diet.

As a result, not only will smuggled salt no longer be able to maintain its exorbitant profits, but its sales channels will also shrink significantly. Apart from a few unscrupulous merchants who might secretly purchase smuggled salt in quantities exceeding their authorized quotas, there will be no other sales channels.

Behind these smugglers often stood powerful and wealthy families. These families not only provided official protection, but some even directly dispatched their clan soldiers and retainers to smuggle salt.

In response to this situation, Lü Chang offered another strategy: to incorporate the salt army into their ranks.

In short, the plan was to split the salt smugglers in two: those without the support of powerful clans would be incorporated into the government army, given provisions and pay, and used to crack down on the salt smugglers with the support of powerful clans.

It must be said that Lü Chang's strategy was quite remarkable, immediately attracting Liu Feng's attention.

It should be noted that in the original timeline, after the Shu Han dynasty implemented this strategy, the revenue from salt taxes tripled in just one year. Two years later, during the Battle of Hanzhong, the revenue from salt taxes alone surged from 10% during Liu Zhang's time to 45%.

Tax revenue in Yizhou during Liu Zhang's reign had decreased significantly compared to the Yonghe era.

During the Yonghe era, Yizhou's annual revenue reached as high as 170 to 180 million coins at its peak. Of this, about 15% to 20% needed to be retained in various counties and prefectures, while the rest had to be handed over to the national treasury.

During Liu Zhang's reign, the annual revenue was still over 140 million coins, and 10% of that would be over 14 million coins. Based on this figure, Lü Chang's strategy could have brought Liu Feng at least 40 to 50 million more coins in revenue.

This already exceeds the annual tax revenue of a large prefecture. How could Liu Feng not be tempted?
This represents an increase in net income every year, while the costs have already been largely covered by the existing salt tax system, making it hard for Liu Feng not to be tempted. Moreover, Liu Feng currently has sufficient strength and ability to implement this plan, as the two most important salt-producing areas in Shu—Linqiong County and Quren County—are already under his control.

At the same time, implementing this policy can also suppress the illegal activities of powerful families and establish their own prestige.

Of course, this policy was not entirely beneficial. The state-run salt monopoly and the forced quota system inevitably led to rampant corruption and greed over time.

However, Liu Feng was not worried, because he already knew about these consequences and had corresponding solutions.

The most important thing now is to take this money away from the powerful and wealthy.

Besides Lü Chang's strategy of allocating salt based on population, He Zhi also offered two other solutions: replacing taxes with grain and simplifying litigation to end disputes.

The former is also very much in line with the current situation in Yizhou. Zhao Wei rebelled, Liu Feng entered Shu, and Cao Ang went south. The continuous war has been going on for more than a year. In particular, Cao Ang and Liu Zhang's eastward expedition almost emptied the Chengdu treasury. A large amount of gold, silver, copper coins, and Shu brocade, which are hard currencies, were almost swept away.

Although Chengdu has lost 30,000 to 50,000 young and strong people, it still has at least twice the number of elderly and weak people, as well as powerful clans and their hidden tens of thousands of young and strong people. Moreover, there are also many people hiding in the surrounding villages and Longtou Mountain to escape the war.

Compared to its population, Chengdu is a true ghost town in terms of economy. What's even more embarrassing is that Liu Feng still has many ways to deal with food. He can mobilize local gentry and powerful families to donate, or transport it from the rear. Guangdu and Wuyang alone have a large amount of grain stockpiled that can be used.

However, gold, silver, and copper coins are not included.

From the moment Dong Zhuo started his chaotic reign and began minting small coins, the entire financial system of the Central Plains collapsed completely.

Apart from Hebei under Yuan Shao's rule and the southeast controlled by Liu Feng and his son Liu Bei, which still yielded considerable tax revenue, the Central Plains had almost no money left and had regressed to a primitive state of bartering.

The situation in Shu was originally quite good. Copper coins were minted during the reign of Liu Yan, and during the reign of Liu Zhang, five million coins were minted every year.

Although these copper coins could not compare with the Wuzhu coins in terms of quality or size, they were still much better than Dong Zhuo's small coins and were recognized by the people of Shu.

Therefore, the economy of Sichuan has always been relatively stable.

However, this time Liu Zhang and Cao Ang swept away all the gold, silver and copper coins in the Chengdu treasury, and Liu Feng could not produce the same amount, or even half of the copper coins, to replenish the market demand. Therefore, the economic impact will be quite significant.

He Zhi's suggestion was timely and perfectly suited to the current perilous situation.

Liu Feng was unaware that in the original timeline, it was precisely He Zhi's strategy that quickly stabilized the counties and towns on the Chengdu Plain, restored the tax system to normal, and thus provided Liu Bei with a large amount of grain.

Of course, this system is not without its flaws; in fact, it exploits farmers quite severely. Its biggest drawback is that pricing power is in the hands of officials, and if oversight is inadequate, it can easily lead to fraud and oppression of the people.

Therefore, Liu Feng does not intend to use this policy for a long time and will make minor adjustments to it.

"De'ang, Zihuan, Zijing, and Dexin, please take your seats first."

The next day, Liu Feng secretly summoned Li Hui, Lü Chang, He Zhi, and Ma Zhong.

Ma Zhong was from Langzhong. The Ma family was considered a wealthy family in Langzhong, but Ma Zhong's branch had long since declined and was now considered poor.

Ma Zhong was fostered by his maternal grandfather when he was young. Later, he restored his surname Ma and changed his name to Zhong. At that time, he was still young, only twenty-three years old. He had just restored his surname Ma and, with the help of his maternal grandfather, took up a minor official position in the county.

Liu Feng was very familiar with the resumes of the famous ministers and generals of the Shu Han dynasty, and he sent people to Langzhong to recruit Ma Zhong early on.

Upon learning that he had been recruited by the Left General, Ma Zhong's first reaction was not joy, but suspicion, and he even immediately reported it to the Langzhong County government.

Fortunately, the envoy carried the official seal, which cleared up the misunderstanding and brought Ma Zhong back.

After thanking Liu Feng, the four men took their seats.

Subsequently, Liu Feng passed the documents written by Lü Chang and He Zhi to Li Hui and three others for review. Of course, Lü Chang and He Zhi only had time to look at each other's works, while the other two were to read two policy essays.

The two policy essays are not long, and they are concise and to the point, clearly explaining the theme.

The four of them finished watching the entire series in the time it takes to eat a meal.

(End of this chapter)