Chapter 495 The Master of Clear Soup

Chapter 495 The Master of Clear Soup

The farce in Chengdu only lasted one night before it was put down by Ma Di, Lei (Mo) Ting, and his force. Not only did he annihilate all Soochow's spies in Yizhou, but he also captured the traitor Shiren.

The most important thing is that due to the persecution of Soochow, Ma Su finally had a clear talk with the Yizhou family. Ma Di also had the opportunity to correct his brutal image in the eyes of the nobles.

He is just hard to talk to, not cruel and murderous.

After making peace with various wealthy families in Chengdu, Ma Su's reputation quickly improved in Shu. These middle-class aristocratic families turned from black to fans in a very short period of time, and began to promote Ma Su's image as a great good man.

With their support, many of Ma Su's tasks have become smoother. Under the auspices of Chengdu aristocratic families, many local wealthy families also began to actively cooperate with the government's actions.

Later, after Ma Zhong led troops to suppress Wenshan County, remote counties and counties also feared Ma Di's power and obeyed Chengdu's orders honestly. In a very short period of time, Ma Su quickly integrated Yizhou, which already had good control.

After completing the preliminary action of clearing the land, Ma Di quickly began to promote tax reductions and reductions in corvee labor. In October of the 13th year of Jianxing, Ma Su issued a decree in Chengdu, announcing that taxes and corvees in all counties in Yizhou would be reduced by 50%.

Among them, Nanzhong has the largest tax reduction and exemption. Many of the heavy taxes in Zhuge Liang's era were canceled by Ma Su, and corvee service was also directly exempted for three years. This can be regarded as correcting the hidden dangers left by Zhuge Liang and appeasing the barbarian forces in Nanzhong to a certain extent.

As for Bazhong and Shuzhong, Ma Su also carried out different reforms. Among them, the Sanba area mainly implements corvee tax measures, maintaining the original 60% of the corvee while reducing the tax to 30% of the original tax rate.

In the counties in central Sichuan, the situation was completely reversed. The corvee was reduced to 30% of the original amount, while the tax remained at 60%.

On the one hand, this is because Bazhong is located in a mountainous area, and the value of taxes is lower than that of corvee. On the other hand, it was also because Ma Su planned to prepare for the conquest of Wu and planned to build ships in Yong'an for the Eastern Expedition.

Therefore, Bazhong will have greater requirements for corvee labor in the next few years, and many civilians will be needed to build ships.

At the same time, because of the Qiao family, several wealthy families from the Du family who moved to Chang'an were also basically from Bazhong. Therefore, when exchanging fields, most of what the imperial court acquired were the fields and population in Bazhong, and most of the Yizhou military mansions were built here.

Therefore, the demand for taxes in Bazhong is not high, and the cost of maintaining garrison is low.

Under Ma Su's series of changes, the whole Yizhou was filled with joy. The wealthy Yizhou clan, who were already prepared to be slaughtered again, did not expect that Ma Di not only did not steal their land, but also took the initiative to reduce taxes and corvee.

This is not a cool official, this is clearly Mr. Qingtang! The parents and officials of our Yizhou people!

Within a month of the issuance of the decree to reduce or reduce corvee taxes, Ma Su's reputation in Yizhou began to rise crazily. In particular, Ma Su had completed the land clearing before, so the decree was smooth, the law was strict, and the tax reduction and exemption decree was quickly implemented.

As a result, Ma Di changed from the most cruel official in the Han Dynasty to the master of Qingtang in a very short period of time. Ma Su only felt a little dumbfounded by this. After all, to put it bluntly, tax reductions and exemptions were just following orders.

The prime minister has long had the idea of ​​​​reducing taxes for Yizhou. Even if Ma Di doesn't come, some state pastors will reduce taxes if they come to power.

But at this time, Ma Su also suddenly understood. Perhaps the prime minister had this idea in mind when he simply asked him to be the Yizhou Shepherd?

Through this destined good relationship, Ma Su and the Yizhou faction can ease the conflict.

He really made me cry to death.

In addition to large-scale tax cuts in Yizhou, Ma Su also put the conquest of Wu on the agenda. He specifically reported to Chang'an about Soochow's disturbance of Yizhou, and also reported that the Ming Dynasty's attack on Wu could not be delayed.

We can no longer let this troublemaker cause trouble next to the big man. He must be beaten back to Yangzhou as soon as possible.

While reporting to Chang'an, Ma Di also transferred Guan Xing from Nanzhong to Yong'an. He was specifically responsible for building warships and training the navy in Yong'an to prepare for the invasion of Wu.

As for Nanzhong, Ma Di completely left it to Guan Yinping.

Guan Xing did not have too many objections to this arrangement, but he raised his concerns with Ma Su.

"Your Majesty, the Soochow navy has dominated the Yangtze River for more than ten years, but our Han army has never formed a navy since the first test."

"If we build navy training now, it will be difficult to compete with Soochow's navy, right?"

Guan Xing's concern is very normal. So far, the Soochow Navy has dominated the Yangtze River for sixteen years. Since Guan Yu, there has been no force on the Yangtze River that can compete with the Soochow Navy.

In recent years, Soochow has been able to commit suicide in various ways, and its confidence is based on this. With the navy that dominates the Yangtze River in the back, they can wage war again and again.

Now, Ma Di plans to rebuild the Han Navy. Can he really defeat the Soochow Navy under such circumstances?

Ma Su waved his hand, patted Guan Xing's shoulder and said comfortingly,

"Don't worry Anguo, just go build the ship. I, Xiao Chang, will think of the solution!"

"Besides, I won't just ask our Han navy to defeat Soochow. Everything should be done step by step. After all, we will have to fight Soochow sooner or later."

"That's right... In short, I reassure you that I will not let you down!"

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In the following months, Ma Su was forced by Li Mu to start a hard life of overtime work. All affairs in Yizhou, big and small, had to go through Ma Su's hands, and Ma Su had to go out for inspections from time to time.

Under Ma Su's busy schedule, Yizhou, which had been operating under a war load for nearly two decades, finally ushered in a moment of recuperation. After so many years of exhaustion, the people of Shu can finally live peacefully with a lighter burden.

In the previous Zhuge Liang era, for the Northern Expedition, most people basically had to participate in corvee service whenever there was slack time in farming. Although Zhuge Liang personally managed taxes and increased production, although the people could eat well, they could not save much surplus food every year.

With Ma Su cutting taxes and eliminating corvee, and advocating recuperation, the people of Shu could finally take a break. Moreover, under Ma Su's hands, the efficiency of administrative agencies has been greatly improved, and the people all praise Ma Su's kindness.

The most obvious one is in the south. After the heavy taxes were removed, many barbarians quickly stopped making trouble. Under Guan Yinping's comforting guidance, Nanzhong gradually settled down.

At this point, everyone in Yizhou was satisfied, and no one had any complaints.

However, when Sun Quan, who was far away in Jianye, found out about this, he became very unhappy.

I was so picky and provocative, and I used so much strength, but in the end, everyone in Yizhou came together as one?

Then I leave?