In the Heavens

After reading this expensive information, the three brothers were stunned by the above information. Hanchuan County, located on the border of the empire, is clearly a replica of the Great Zhou Dynasty Hall.

Reformers, conservatives, and neutrals are naturally indispensable. The key is that under these three major factions, there are more than a dozen small factions.

The most powerful natural local wealthy families are mainly headed by the three prefectural families, plus a number of vassal families. Fortunately, the three major families do not fight each other, so other forces have a chance to gain a foothold.

Naturally, the county guard's mansion was next. As the highest local magistrate appointed by the imperial court, it represented the strength of the Great Zhou Empire, so naturally it would not be weak.

It's a pity that there are county lieutenants and county magistrates under the county guard to check and balance, and the power is directly divided into three, so it is impossible to keep a promise.

"Shou Zhimin, Cheng Zuozhi, Wei Dian Bing."

In addition, there is also a Department of Demon Suppression and Department of Imperial City, which are independent of the administrative system, and are respectively in charge of suppressing demon cultists and handling Jianghu affairs.

If it is a peaceful and prosperous age, it is estimated that there are only a few factions. But now is a troubled time, affected by the Great Zhou system of checks and balances, although the county lieutenant commands the soldiers and horses in the army, it is the school lieutenant below who directly leads the troops.

In troubled times, strength is the right to speak, as long as there are a few school captains grouped together, it is an independent faction.

Among other things, although the three Li Mu brothers have not taken office yet, they are a new faction in the eyes of the outside world.

The county is so chaotic, the local situation can be imagined. To suppress the rebellion, the military must be indispensable.

Against this background, except for a few powerful counties that were able to suppress the rebellion and stabilize the place on their own, the rest of the county officials could only stand in line.

Seeing the two bewildered elder brothers, Li Mu opened his mouth to analyze: "The situation in Hanchuan is similar to that of the court, and the power and interests of all departments have been divided up.

No one likes to add a division of meat. It is inevitable that we will be squeezed out after taking office. Even if they want to join a faction, no one dares to accept it.

According to the current situation, unless the three of us are willing to be puppets and wooden people, conflicts with all parties are inevitable.

If you want to break the situation, the easiest way is to first pick a weak persimmon to stand up and seize the interests of a certain faction. Otherwise, even military spending is a problem.

For a newcomer, it is obviously not a wise move to do so. Although there is family support, after all, it is far from hydrolysis but not near thirst.

Unless the three schools are full of soldiers and horses and trained into elite divisions, it will be difficult for us to fight against these guys.

it's out of the question. They are not fools, and they will definitely get stuck in our necks on military spending. With the wealth of the three of us, we simply cannot afford to support so many troops.

For the current plan, the only way to break the current balance of forces among all parties is to let them fall into internal struggle, so that they will not work together to suppress us. "

Frankly speaking, Li Mu really admires his ninth brother. The court of the Great Zhou Dynasty was in such a mess that everyone dared to go into the fire to get millet.

If he had changed himself, facing a mere Hanchuan County, he was helpless and could only use violence to break the situation.

In Hanchuan, the three brothers can be regarded as strong dragons, so they can play like this, but in the capital he is a weak chicken, and the only way to keep a low profile is king.

After being silent for a while, Li Liang said hesitantly: "Brother Thirteen, your plan is good in theory.

However, Hanchuan County was able to form a balance, which was obviously the result of a long-term struggle between the various forces and the final compromise with each other.

Only one fuse is needed to bring the forces of all parties back into the struggle, but once a strong dragon joins, they will still instinctively choose to reject outsiders.

Unless we can cooperate with one party, or several parties, this is also difficult.

With Tianxianglou here, our background and the purpose of the imperial court sending us here, it is estimated that these local snakes have figured it out a long time ago.

For the major factions in Hanchuan County, our strength is just in an awkward position. Shouwei's younger brother is too strong, he may occupy the magpie's nest at any time; he doesn't have the strength to coerce all parties, so everyone flees here. "

Eat at home, eat at home. It has always been the style of Tianxianglou. As long as the price can be afforded, it is quite normal to sell information to both hostile parties at the same time.

With the backing of the Bliss Demon Sect, apart from the top forces that can make them afraid, they have no pressure to sell the information of other forces.

It would be considered moral not to disclose the news of the arrival of the three Li Mu brothers in Hanchuan. People have no obligation to help keep their backgrounds secret.

In the final analysis, it is still because the strength is too weak. It would be a different scene if the Dingyuanhou Mansion was stronger, or if Li Mu and the others were stronger.

Of course, this is impossible. If the Hou Mansion is not a second-rate rich family, but the top princes in the world, the court will not be able to rest assured that they will enter Hanchuan County as officials.

The imperial court has never allowed the children of those top princes to take up local positions, because they are afraid that these guys will play with doves and occupy the magpie's nest, and open up semicolons everywhere to expand their power.

Apart from Li Mu's own confidence, no one would believe that the three brothers could seize control of Hanchuan County.

In the eyes of the outside world, the best result is that the three of them become an important force in Hanchuan County. After stabilizing the local situation for the imperial court, and gaining some benefits and political resources, he will leave here.

"Brother Six is ​​right, so I never planned to open up the situation in the county. Hanchuan County is so big, where is it not a place for us brothers to gain a foothold.

Now the rebel army is everywhere, as the county lieutenant colonel, it is our duty to send troops to suppress the rebellion.

After suppressing the rebellion, we should be stationed there to clear up the remnants of the rebels and stabilize the local situation. It should be reasonable, right?

As long as they occupy the territory of several counties and solve the logistics problems of the army, it doesn't matter whether they enter the county or not.

With soldiers in hand, there will naturally be a place for us in the county. So our next enemies will be local powerful families, and those foreign officials may become allies.

This is what the imperial court wants to see most.

In addition to suppressing the rebellion and stabilizing the local situation, the most important thing for sending us to the local government is to suppress local tyrants and increase the court's control over the local area.

It just so happens that these families in Hanchuan County have not had any high officials in the court in the past few hundred years. Even if our methods are a little too extreme, no one will speak for them.

If we wipe out the local tyrants headed by the three major families, and help the court increase tens of millions of Dingkou and tax revenue, even if we can't get the position of county guard, county lieutenant or county magistrate, there will always be one left for us. "

The aristocratic and wealthy families seem to be one, but in fact they are completely two groups. Within the group, there is also a chain of contempt.

To become an aristocratic family, not only depends on one's own strength, but also depends on historical background and influence in the court.

In the true sense, there are only seven families in the whole world that can be called the top families, namely the Great Zhou royal family and the six top princes.

Among the six princes, there are two branches of the royal family. In a sense, there are only five top families in total.

If you want to join the ranks of the aristocratic family, you must either be a vassal, or you must guarantee that within five generations, there will be a senior official of the third rank or above, and all generations will have children who are officials in the court.

A family that fails to meet the requirements and maintains prosperity can only be regarded as a wealthy family. If you turn your face, you will become a "tyrannical" and belong to the target of suppression.

Don't ask why, the truth is that there is only one vested interest group above, and they don't want to see more cakes being added.

Of course, the emperor didn't think so. Emperor Taichang wanted to suppress the local tyrants, mainly to strengthen the authority of the central government, increase the country's fiscal revenue, and let the common people below breathe a sigh of relief and stop rebelling every day.

Everyone is innocent, but pregnant is guilty.

The greatest interests of Hanchuan County are in the hands of these local tyrants. The bureaucrats in the county were only given a fraction, even if they were beaten down, they would still have a lot of benefits.

The most important thing is that most of the cultivation resources that Li Mu wants are monopolized by these guys. Except for a few veins directly managed by the imperial court, the remaining energy stone mines are all in the hands of these three major families.

The bear child who realized it later turned pale with shock: "The rebels in Hanchuan County are not yet mature, and they don't have the strength to attack the county. Thirteenth brother, are you planning to help the rebels take down the county?"

The land of Dazhou has been annexed, and all of it is in the hands of these local wealthy families. To establish a foundation, the land must be taken from the rich.

As a member of a vested interest group, it is natural that he cannot risk the disapproval of the world and lift the cover of land annexation, so he can only rely on the hands of the rebels.

Anyway, in order to evade taxes, the hidden land of these families has not been registered with the government, and it is completely possible to pretend that they do not know it and directly declare it as unowned land.

There's no way this lawsuit can be brought to light. Whoever dares to come out and clamor that the land is his own will be convicted of a series of crimes such as hiding land, evading taxes, and labor.

The consequences are not too serious, according to the laws of the Great Zhou:

Those who evade taxes and do hard labor are eighty years old. Not only do they have to pay back taxes and perform hard labor, but they are also fined ten times.

Anyway, if there is no specific time, it can be calculated according to the maximum time. The Great Zhou Empire has been established for more than 9,000 years, and whoever can resist will come.

Hiding land is even more serious. Not only will all the land be confiscated, but once it exceeds 3,000 mu, it will be a serious crime of ransacking the house and destroying the family.

If someone really dared to make trouble in the open, Li Mu would definitely not mind going along with the flow and being the governor of Miemen.

Glancing at Xiongzi, Li Mu reprimanded sharply: "Seventh brother, what nonsense are you talking about! When did we have anything to do with the rebels.

Don't forget, the three of us are still on our way to Hanchuan. We haven't had time to take office yet, what does the fall of the local county government have to do with us?

Even if the rebels really captured the county, it would be a vegetarian meal for the bureaucrats in the county. Seventh Brother, it’s fine if you’re usually ignorant, but don’t confuse concepts now! "

After hearing this shameless explanation, Li Song was so choked that he couldn't speak. I thought I was shameless enough, but I didn't expect that compared with my thirteenth brother, I was not on the same level at all.

No matter what happened next, the three brothers were able to shirk all responsibility before the sentence came.

No matter how much the county bureaucrats throw the blame, it is impossible to blame the officials who have not performed their duties. Even if those guys want to hide it or not report it, the three brothers can still repay it by leapfrogging, at worst, attach an impeachment memorial.

When such a big thing happened, someone had to take the blame. Regardless of how the imperial court will deal with it, it is an inevitable result that the balance of power in the county will be broken.

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