From a son-in-law to a favorite of the empress

Chapter 358

In a luxurious manor in Kaifeng City, several old men sat at a rosewood table with serious eyes.

The leader was a thin man with a pale face, gray hair and beard, vigorous and sharp eyes. He held a palm-leaf fan in his right hand and shook it slowly.

He looked leisurely and calm, saying, "What does it have to do with us if the world is not peaceful? The court needs money to fight a war, so it wants to take our land. Has it ever been so reasonable since ancient times?"

The fat-faced old man beside him whispered, "Old Yun, that's right, but Deng Su, who took over the seal of the governor of Zhongyuan, really thought he was a frontier official. He took people to check our land everywhere, saying that those were unowned lands and needed to be redivided. Isn't this the biggest joke in the world!"

Old Yun's name is Yun Xiansheng. He is the biggest figure in Kaifeng Prefecture. It is said that even the governor of that year had to give him some face.

Because the Yun family has been passed down for more than 400 years, and there have been three queens in the family, including the Empress Dowager Shengzu, it can be said that it is a famous family with a distinguished heritage.

The plaque on the gate of the mansion reads "Gongyu Yide". It was written by Emperor Taizu himself and is still hanging there.

Of course, as such a noble family, there are naturally many good fields in the family, and they do not have to pay taxes.

With this whip law, the land of every household must be measured, but who has the courage to measure the land of the Yun family?

"Everyone, please be patient. Deng Su is just a temporary governor. How dare he enter the gate of my Yun family?"

"Under the plaque written by Emperor Taizu himself, how dare he act rashly? What's more, I still have the red-lettered iron certificate and the gold medal of immunity from death, which are all passed down from my ancestors."

Everyone got a positive answer, and their faces were immediately relieved.

On the other side, in the Kaifeng government office, Deng Su closed his eyes and rested his mind, silent.

Beside him, Dong Zhongliang said in a deep voice: "Master Deng, those unruly people gathered to cause trouble and even injured the public servants who were measuring the land. Shouldn't they be severely punished? Why are you hesitating?"

Deng Su said calmly: "Do unruly people have the courage to attack the public servants? In the end, someone is instigating them."

Dong Zhongliang said: "I am a warrior and don't understand those twists and turns, but as long as we are tough, what are those unruly people? What are the people behind them?"

Deng Su opened his eyes and coldly "It's a nice talk! Who has the most land in Kaifeng? Which family has the most land in the Central Plains?"

Dong Zhongliang glared and said, "They... How could they go against the court?"

Deng Su said, "In their eyes, I, Deng Su, am a nobody in the court. It's not like His Majesty is here in person."

Dong Zhongliang said, "What should we do now? Should we just leave it alone?"

Deng Su sighed and said, "I have sent several letters. The old man of the Yun family won't see me. What can I do? Should I take troops to the Yun family to make trouble? Danshu Tiequan, Jin Medal of Immunity, what don't they have?"

"You know, the Yun family has produced three queens, the mothers of three emperors!"

"The Yun family is the mother's family of the Great Jin!"

Dong Zhongliang thought about it and gritted his teeth and said, "Then wait, wait for the Zhongwu Earl to return to Kaifeng, everything will be resolved."

"There was news eight days ago that Guangzhou has been recovered. I think they have gathered troops in Luoyang now."

Deng Su said, "Luoyang and Huaiqing Prefecture has a total of 50,000 soldiers and horses, plus Zhang Bailong has been recruiting soldiers recently, gathering 70,000 peasant soldiers, and now there are 120,000 troops guarding Luoyang. "

"It's not that easy for Zhou Yuan to take it down!"

As soon as the voice fell, a guard strode in from outside the door and said anxiously: "The Grand Commander is back! The Grand Commander is back!"

Deng Su's face changed, and he exclaimed: "He won't attack Luoyang?"

"Let's go and meet him!"

Dong Zhongliang strode out immediately.

But at this moment, Zhou Yuan had already entered the Kaifeng Prefecture government office.

It took almost no effort to attack Guangzhou and Runing. Once Zhang Bailong was defeated, the peasant soldiers there had almost no fighting spirit, and they collapsed directly when they saw the army.

In view of the slow progress of the implementation of the One Whip Law and the fact that the land survey has not yet been implemented, Zhou Yuan can only return to Kaifeng temporarily to deal with the affairs here first.

Give Zhang Bailong some time, and then he can naturally recover Luoyang.

"Greetings, Grand Commander!"

A large number of people knelt in the Kaifeng government office. Zhou Yuan used all kinds of special forces to defeat Zhang Bailong and annihilate 300,000 enemies. The battle report had already spread throughout the Central Plains.

At this time, Zhou Yuan was like a god in the Jin Dynasty and had a high prestige in the army.

"Everyone, get up and do your own things."

After Zhou Yuan finished speaking, he strode towards the inner hall.

His face was not good, because Deng Su's progress in implementing the new law disappointed him.

He thought that at least the land survey had been completed, but who knew that in the past two or three months, he had not even completed this matter.

Deng Su seemed to see that Zhou Yuan was in a bad mood, and followed him into the inner hall, not daring to sit down., lowered his head and said nothing.

Zhou Yuan said calmly, "What? Where is the high-spirited Lord Deng who just arrived at Kaifeng Prefecture? When he encountered a little setback, he was like an eggplant hit by frost, and he wilted?"

Deng Su lowered his head and gritted his teeth and said, "I didn't do it well. I know I should be punished, so I dare not speak nonsense."

Zhou Yuan stared at him and said coldly, "It's been nearly three months, Deng Su. In three months, Zhang Bailong's 300,000 troops have been slaughtered by me. Yancheng, Yingcheng, Chenzhou, Runing, Guangzhou, Nanyang, Shanzhou, and most of the Central Plains have been recovered by me. What are you doing?"

"I asked you to send officials to take over the city and maintain basic order, but you can't do it."

"I asked you to survey the land, but you can't do it either. What do you do as a governor? Don't you claim to have a talent that can rule the world, but you often sigh that your talent is not appreciated?"

"I gave you a chance, but you are useless!"

Deng Su blushed when he heard it, but he didn't dare to answer. He was only ashamed.

When he was the Junior Minister of the Dali Temple in Shenjing, he thought he was very capable and not necessarily worse than those first-rank cabinet ministers. But when he arrived in the Central Plains and held great power, he found that he was restricted everywhere and had strength but could not use it.

It was too difficult to manage such a vast land and such a complex situation.

Zhou Yuan scolded him, and seeing that he was honest, his anger almost subsided.

So he said in a deep voice: "What's going on? Are those gentry so difficult to deal with?"

Deng Su sighed and whispered: "They gathered together, inciting tenants to make trouble, refusing to cooperate with land surveying, and thousands of people opposed us."

"We killed a few leaders, and then thousands of people knelt at the gate of the government office to cry out for justice. The scholars in the city took to the streets, saying that we killed innocent people indiscriminately and treated the people as pigs and dogs. There is a wise king."

"We are constrained everywhere and can't do anything."

Zhou Yuan narrowed his eyes and said: "Is that all?"

Deng Su said: "There is also... The head of the gentry family is the Yun family."

Zhou Yuan's figure was shocked and silent.

He already knew the details of the Yun family, but he didn't expect that such a powerful family could not see the situation clearly and was obsessed with this tax.

It seems that they are used to a comfortable life and have been away from politics for too long, so they can't tell the general trend of the world.

Zhou Yuan looked at Deng Su and said word by word: "Listen carefully. In the next half month, I will focus on dealing with the land survey in Kaifeng Prefecture. You must follow me and learn and watch carefully."

"In the future, all provinces in Dajin will gradually implement the new law. If you still can't do it by then, it won't be because I didn't teach you."

Deng Su looked a little uncomfortable. This was too arrogant. He was very dissatisfied, but Zhou Yuan's performance in the past two or three months was too dazzling. He didn't dare to refute at this time.

He could only sneer in his heart and secretly thought, I want to see how you Zhou Yuan convinces the Yun family.