Traveling back in time to Liu Feng, starting with rescuing soldier Guan Yu.

Chapter 97 Public Support

Ma Liang couldn't help but chuckle to himself as he listened to Liu Feng's sophistry, and his white eyebrows twitched slightly.

Liu Feng, however, did not mind. He poured himself another bowl of tea, took a small sip, and savored the lingering fragrance. Only then did he look at Ma Liang with satisfaction and say with a smile, "Mr. Ji Chang, I'm afraid Elder Bu will need another half an hour or so to handle his official business. Let's stay here and discuss things while we wait for Elder Bu."

Seeing Liu Feng's behavior and demeanor, Ma Liang didn't seem to mind. He picked up his teacup, took a sip, and said, "Tax exemption, household registration, and military farms. These three things, in the end, all boil down to one thing: money and grain."

Ma Liang glanced at Liu Feng, whose expression was gradually returning to seriousness, and continued, "Taking tax exemption goes without saying! Even restoring civilian registration would require a significant loss of military and labor forces. Furthermore, to establish military farms in Changsha and Wuling, we would firstly distribute millet seeds to the people, and secondly, we would need to rent oxen..."

Agricultural tools. Both of these also require financial and material support; otherwise, such policies benefiting the people would be difficult to implement, like rootless duckweed or water without a source.

After listening to Ma Liang's words, Liu Feng couldn't help but sigh, stood up, and paced back and forth in the hall with his hands behind his back.

"Master Ji Chang, my father, the King of Hanzhong, managed the four commanderies of Jingnan for nearly ten years. However, once the Eastern Wu army arrived and the cities of Jiangling and Gong'an fell, the four commanderies offered almost no resistance and immediately changed course. Do you know why?"

When Ma Liang met Liu Feng's piercing gaze, his heart skipped a beat. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but his white eyebrows furrowed slightly, and he swallowed back what he was about to say.

"I am unaware of this; please enlighten me, my lord!"

"The people's hearts are not with us! Ultimately, it's because the people's hearts haven't been won over!"

Liu Feng stared intently at Ma Liang, noticing the latter's white eyebrows furrowing deeper and deeper, before continuing, "Sir, please allow me to finish. My father and Military Advisor Zhuge are undoubtedly great talents in governing the world. But who did they rely on to govern the four commanderies of Jingnan?"

"They are powerful clans! The Pan clan of Wuling, the Kou and Liu clans of Changsha, and even the Jiang clan of Lingling—these are all close advisors to the King of Hanzhong. My father and the strategist believe that as long as we win over the sons of these powerful clans, we can stabilize the prefectures and counties."

"No! It turns out they were all wrong."

Liu Feng slowly walked to the front of the hall, his gaze fixed on the azure sky outside the veranda. He seemed to be murmuring something to himself, or perhaps speaking to Ma Liang: "The support of the people is the true measure of a land's stability! When people have land to cultivate, rice to eat, and even the ability to marry and have children, they will naturally want to live here. Only when someone tries to take away this way of life will they rise up in resistance!"

At this time.

Still dressed in a blue robe, Bu Zhi had finished dealing with the affairs of Jingnan at some point and slowly walked into the corridor behind the main hall.

Hearing Liu Feng's words from afar, he couldn't help but be slightly lost in thought. At first, he thought Liu Feng's words were absurd and laughable, as the stability of aristocratic families had always been the top priority in the reorganization of prefectures and counties.

To put it simply, even the Sun family's three generations of foundation, in order to stabilize Jiangdong, needed to unite with the Gu family, the Lu family, and other major Jiangdong clans.

Liu Bei's ability to take control of Yizhou was also inseparable from the strong support of powerful local clans such as the Wu family.

But after carefully considering Liu Feng's words, I found that they contained a simple yet profound truth.

Liu Feng remained standing with his hands behind his back in the corridor, neither turning back to look at Ma Liang nor noticing Bu Zhi, who had arrived at the back of the hall. His gaze remained fixed on the distant sky.

"Mr. Ji Chang. When I was a student, one of the teachers in the school said something that I deeply agree with..."

"He stepped into the hall, and Ma Liang and Liu Feng, seeing Bu Zhi arrive, hurriedly bowed to him."

Bu Zhi had long since grown accustomed to Liu Feng's frequent visits to his home for meals. Instead, he nodded slightly to Ma Liang and said with a calm smile, "Mr. Ji Chang, it's been a long time. Mr. Ji Chang is still as charming as ever, congratulations."

"No, no!"

Ma Liang bowed respectfully to Bu Zhi, then turned his gaze to Liu Feng and said, "Your Excellency summoned me here to see you, sir, to inquire about matters of governance from Elder Bu."

Ma Liang then told Bu Zhi about the three things he had mentioned earlier: "tax exemption, registration of people, and military farms."

After listening to Ma Liang's explanation, Bu Zhi nodded slightly, stroked his beard, and said, "This is a beneficial act for the people, and it should be carried out!"

Liu Feng and Ma Liang exchanged a glance.

"There's just one thing."

Liu Feng rubbed his wrist, looked at Bu Zhi, and said, "Tax reduction is easy, but after tax reduction, where will the government's funds come from?"

Although the grain reserves of Linyuan and Linxiang cities were enough to supply the army for several months, if all four prefectures simultaneously reduced or exempted taxes, daily administrative expenses would be affected.

Military provisions, city repairs, and post station maintenance all require money. Relying solely on the 40/40 split by the military agricultural officials is insufficient to cover all expenses in the short term.

Ma Liang gently shook his feather fan, pondered for a moment, and then his eyes lit up: "Has Your Excellency forgotten—the Wuxi Trade Market?"

Shu brocade and well salt traveled down the Han River, passing through Shangyong and reaching Linyuan. Copper, rhinoceros hides, medicinal herbs, and timber from the mountains of Jingnan were then transported back to Shu along the same route. If this trade route could be established, the customs duties and profits from government-run businesses alone would be enough to offset the fiscal deficit caused by tax cuts. Using commerce to support agriculture and the military—this was the long-term solution.

After listening to Ma Liang's advice, Liu Feng cast an inquiring glance at Bu Zhi.

A smile appeared on Bu's face: "Brother Ji Chang and I have the same idea. If we set up official markets in Linxiang and Linyuan, we can collect an eleventh tax on passing goods, and the local specialties can be purchased by the government and then sold to Sichuan and Hanzhong through trade routes."

In addition, goods from the Wuxi barbarians could also be transported out via this trade route.

Liu Feng clapped his hands and laughed, saying, "Very well! As you two gentlemen suggest, I will go and discuss this matter with Commander Shamoke."

Ma Liang and Bu were unaware of Liu Feng's conversation with Mi Zhu at the Wuxi Mountain stronghold that night. They figured that Mi Zhu's son should have already arrived in Xiangyang by now, discussing trade routes with the Xi family of Xiangyang.

That afternoon, the three official documents of the government decree were sent from the Linxiang Prefectural Government to the counties of the four prefectures.

Liu Feng then wrote another secret letter and gave it to a fast messenger, ordering him to ride back to Chengdu to meet with Mi Zhu and discuss promoting trade.

The fast messenger galloped out of the Linxiang city gate, his horse's hooves pounding the bluestone streets, heading towards Wuling, Lingling, and Guiyang.

Ma Liang personally copied dozens of copies and ordered them to be posted outside the city gates and main streets of various counties. He also ordered the county magistrates to summon the elders of the villages and read the contents of the decrees aloud in public.

On the official road outside Linxiang City, the first to see the notice were several farmers carrying loads of vegetables into the city. They gathered around the notice, listening as the literate elder read it aloud. When the notice read "Abolish military pay transfers," an old farmer with gray hair suddenly squatted down, covered his face with his hands, and his shoulders began to shake violently. The vegetables in his load rolled all over the ground without him even picking them up.

Similar scenes unfolded in every county town and village of the four prefectures of Wuling, Changsha, Lingling, and Guiyang. Farmers who were struggling under the weight of military supplies and naval taxes, families of surrendered soldiers who lost their land after being incorporated into the military, and collateral branches of aristocratic families whose ancestral lands had been seized by officials of Eastern Wu, all gathered in front of the notices, listening again and again to the words they thought they would never hear again in their lives.

A few days later, the first settlement outside Linxiang City was officially demarcated. The location was chosen on a vast alluvial plain on the east bank of the Xiang River, fertile land that had long been abandoned. Ma Liang personally led people to measure the fields, divide the ditches, and erect boundary markers.

The first batch of recruits numbered over 800, mostly farmers who had fled from the mountains of Changsha Prefecture, and some who came from Lingling and Guiyang upon hearing the news.

The government allocated land at a rate of fifty mu per adult male, and distributed oxen and grain on the spot. Kou Wei sent a team of soldiers to help build temporary shelters. When Liu Feng was inspecting the military farmland on horseback, he saw several old farmers squatting by the newly turned soil. They picked up a handful of soil, crushed it in their palms, and examined it carefully. The wrinkles on their faces smoothed out, and they revealed long-lost smiles.

"My Lord".

Ma Liang stood on the edge of the field, gazing at the land that was awakening, and suddenly said softly.

"The four commanderies of Jingnan will no longer be a burden, but the foundation of our great Han Dynasty."

Liu Feng did not answer.

He gazed at the merchant ships shuttling back and forth on the Xiang River in the distance, and at the layered mountain ridges in the distance, and the chess game in his mind was gradually unfolding.