The Empress came ashore and beheaded the meritorious officials, forcing me to wear the yellow robe

This group of poor guys who were just picked from "good families" might not be able to fight in the battlefield, and they have never even touched a musket.

But looting...oh no! They still have no problem levying taxes and oppressing the gentry and common people.

Especially when it came to "forcible expropriation" of landlords' houses, they were very happy. Often, as soon as an order came down to collect taxes from someone's house, they would run very quickly.

Because, in order to encourage the efficiency of "tax collection", Li Jize not only gave silver to the "tax army" according to the commission ratio, but also anyone who reported tax evasion, once confirmed, could directly receive 30% of the tax collected from that household.

Good guy!

As soon as these two measures were implemented, the tax army was very active in collecting taxes, and those who evaded taxes would be secretly reported by their own servants, housekeepers, etc.

Thirty percent profit! Don’t miss it!

In Qingzhou, a polarization began to take place.

The wealthy and businessmen fled, unable to provoke Li Jize, so why not hide? Meanwhile, the poor and refugees heard that there was land to be divided, and the taxes were extremely low. The King of Qin declared, "Never increase taxes!"

Note that he said taxes, not levies!

In later generations, if someone implements the policy of “never increasing taxes”, he can be called “the greatest emperor of all time”.

What kind of feat was it for Li Jize to say "I will never raise taxes"? The people would have to build ancestral temples for him one by one!

What is his confidence in never raising taxes? It is because the tax burden is levied on commercial taxes!

During Li Jize's time, due to the prosperity of commerce, even farmers were no longer required to pay agricultural taxes.

It was just that during this famine, food was the most important thing, and Li Jize's soldiers needed to eat! Agricultural taxes had to be levied, otherwise they would be waived whenever possible.

The farmers came and the merchants ran away!

Is it cost-effective or not?

Someone advised Li Jize, saying, "King Qin, you can't do this. If you do this, all the rich people will run away! Without merchants, how will the people rely on for trade?"

Li Jize's answer is very classic, "Not collecting is the same as not existing. Pursuing profit is the original intention, and there will always be something!"

If I don’t collect business taxes from a businessman, is there any difference between that and him running away and not being able to collect business taxes?

Profit-seeking is human nature. As long as some people are driven by profit, there will always be people doing business.

Even if a certain emperor in later generations killed officials so cruelly, do you think there was a shortage of officials? Wouldn't they still flock to them?

As long as there is profit in Qingzhou, merchants will definitely come! And what is the profit?

That's the sea!

Qingzhou is close to the sea, and Li Jize has already considered business opportunities. Once this place is combined with Baekje and East Wo, he will be able to earn a steady stream of silver.

By then, these merchants who ran away will come back like crazy.

for example……

Li Jize now has a good business opportunity, Baekje, which he longs for across the sea!

What business are you doing?

Two unique businesses!

1. Piracy is about robbing! Steal money, food, and people.

2. America's behavior. I sell weapons!

If we sell muskets and cannons to some military leaders in Baekje, what will happen after they have the weapons?

Li Jize could not only obtain silver, but also disrupt Baekje and the barbarians' rear.

We can rob, or we can instigate Baekje to rob! Who to rob? Whoever is next to you, rob him!

If these dirty tricks of Li Jize were known by the pedantic people in China today, they would probably call him a despicable and shameless villain.

But the fact is...

In this world, meanness is the passport of the mean, and brightness is the epitaph of the bright!

Didn’t the Western bandits develop by making their first fortune through colonization and plunder?

Didn't a certain country develop by fanning the flames, plundering, and selling weapons behind the scenes?

History has proven how prosperous and powerful they are!

Li Jize doesn't care whether other ethnic groups are living in dire straits, and he doesn't want the people of Qi to live like this. It would be better for me to die than for my friends to die!

and so……

Li Jize is a very contradictory person!

On the one hand, farmers and disaster victims described him as a kindhearted man, while merchants described him as a warlord and a bully who levied heavy taxes and plucked even the fur of a rich man's dog.

On the other hand, he was very kind to the Qi people, but very cruel to other ethnic groups!

Amidst such a complicated reputation, Li Jize, on the one hand, confronted the barbarians, on the other hand, began to stabilize and build order internally, and the third aspect was to train the navy, setting his sights on "Baekje", which was across the sea and served as a younger brother of the barbarians.

Of course, all this takes time, so I won’t discuss it for now.

Let's talk about the rebels, oh no! To be more precise, now it should be the rebel army.

Because their banner has changed. They no longer want to overthrow the Great Qi and create the impossible "Great Harmony of the World".

On the contrary, the slogan they shouted was "Expel the barbarians and protect our China."

It has to be said that after this slogan was shouted, there were still some Qi people who were unwilling to be slaves to the barbarians and began to join the rebel army.

The rebel army stopped its defeat and barely blocked the attack of the third prince Meng He.

It’s not that the barbarians’ fighting power has declined, but that problems have arisen within themselves.

On the one hand, there are only so many strategic materials, and now they are fighting on two fronts.

If Bochijin asked for more weapons, armor, and food, Menghe would get less, which made him very frustrated.

On the other hand, it was naturally Meng He’s little thoughts.

No matter which dynasty or generation, there is always a shortage of people like Zuo Santong who "nurture the enemy to protect themselves"!

Because it was Bochijin who proposed "taking over", if Menghe pacified the north, the credit would still be attributed to his sixth brother, and he would definitely be the new Khan in the future.

Who doesn’t understand the principle that when the cunning rabbit dies, the running dog is cooked?

Originally, Menghe felt that he had no hope, as he was urged by Bochijin every day to quell the rebellion as soon as possible.

but now……

Hey! Li Jize's appearance is really fun.

Isn't Bo Chijin a boaster? Don't you have a brilliant strategic vision and proposed taking control?

What happened? You met Li Jize. 50,000 people were fighting against 10,000 people. How come you couldn't push them away? You even got held down and beaten!

It's so embarrassing!

He had to watch more jokes about this embarrassing incident. The best outcome would be for Li Jize to kill his sixth brother on the battlefield. The next best outcome would be for Bochijin to be defeated and lose his prestige! If Menghe took action again, he could replace him as the "heir."

Therefore, he couldn't just wipe out the rebels. He had to wait until his sixth brother was defeated.

Once the rebels are wiped out here, Lao Liu can send him back to attack Li Jize. Wouldn't the credit still belong to Lao Liu?

So, who says factional strife is a characteristic of the Great Qi? The barbarians themselves also have this kind of struggle!

It’s just not obvious because it wasn’t taken over before!

Regardless, the news that the rebel army had stabilized quickly reached Wang Yuanya and Yan Anxun...