"Hmm, not bad. They're all quite beautiful." Mrs. Chu sized up the four sisters. They all looked similar, like quadruplets. They all had delicate features and long black hair that fluttered in the wind. Their fair skin was like jade and their tall figures gave off the feeling of a young lady from a wealthy family.
"Alright, don't stay at the door. Enter the residence." Mr. Chu, who was at the side, reacted. He was rude at the door.
When Chu Xiao and the rest reached home, it was already close to evening. The family gathered for a meal. The others went back to their rooms to rest. Chu Xiao was called into the study by his father.
"Xiao 'er, I didn't stop you when you wanted to travel the mountains and rivers. Have you felt anything in the past few years?" Mr. Chu sat in his seat and took a sip of tea. She smiled and asked Chu Xiao.
"Father, I've discovered something after years of observation. The Great Song was only prosperous on the surface. In reality, the people were suffering. Moreover, the martial arts world was in chaos now.”Even though Chu Xiao had spent most of his energy on martial arts all these years, he was still a young man. However, every time he went down the mountain, he would go in and out of the folk and the old farmers in the fields to ask and talk. This was also the reason why Chu Xiao did not have a great reputation in the martial arts world.
"Oh? Tell me about the sufferings of the common people. Then how did you judge?" Hearing Chu Xiao's words, Father Chu put down the teacup in his hand. He looked at Chu Xiao and listened attentively. He wanted to see if his son had made any progress outside these years.
"Since Father asked, I will speak freely. According to my observations, most of the people don't have their own land. Basically, they made a living as tenants for local tyrants and landlords. The farmers with land also wanted to become tenants for the local officials. At least they wouldn't have to pay taxes.”Chu Xiao paused for a moment. He drank some water.
This phenomenon caused the national treasury to be empty. Officials in the court praised him for saying that he would hide wealth among the people and not compete with the people for benefits. In fact, all the money fell into the pockets of those in power. Moreover, they didn't even have to pay taxes.
The commoners did not get any benefits at all, and they had to share the huge tax. The harvest year was better, although the price of food was lower. But at least he could survive. However, if the harvest that year was not good and they could not survive. He could only sell his children. If not for Wang Anshi's reform, the Song Dynasty would probably be in chaos now.
"Since my son understands, what can we do?”Mr. Chu obviously understood, but there was nothing he could do.
"In my opinion, Sikong Wang's reform is very good. They should reduce taxes on the people and increase the collection of commercial taxes. In my opinion, the business tax is still too little. "We should increase the tax." That was what Chu Xiao thought. How much tax could a farmer collect? It was better to collect taxes from a big merchant.
If a regime only knew how to collect taxes from the peasants, it would not last long. Moreover, Chu Xiao looked down on the Song Dynasty ruling the world with the scholar-bureaucrats. In Chu Xiao's eyes, this was nonsense. It was because of this that the power of the civil officials in the Song Dynasty was rampant, and cliques were small. There were even traitors.
Generals had a low status. Every time they went out to battle, there would be all kinds of supervisors and random commands. Defeat was the responsibility of the generals, victory was the credit of the civil officials. Because of this, there was Song Yi. Although there were countless famous generals, it could not change the fate of the Song Dynasty being destroyed in the end.
There had never been a situation where a wealthy dynasty like the Song Dynasty could be beaten up by an outsider. The reason for this was because the status of civil officials was too high.
If one looked at history, one could see that even at the end of the powerful Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms era was still beating up foreign races. Because of Wu Zetian's succession, the Tang Dynasty killed members of the royal family. As a result, the imperial family was buried in the hearts of the world. Therefore, in the later period, warlords and vassals rose everywhere. The end of the Ming Dynasty was caused by natural disasters. Otherwise, not even the Shanhaiguan Qing army could enter.
Although the country is big, it will perish if it is belligerent. If the world is stable, it will be dangerous to forget the war.
Father Chu did not reply to Chu Xiao's words and said,""The chaos in the martial arts world is a small matter.”Generations of scholar-bureaucrats in the Celestial Dynasty looked down on martial artists and thought that they were just small tricks. He couldn't stir up any big waves. Mr. Chu did not ask about the eighteen guards who left with Chu Xiao this time.
"Father, I don't agree with you.”Chu Xiao, who had experienced the explosive thoughts of the later generations, understood more than the ancients in certain aspects.
"Alright, then I'll listen to you.”Mr. Chu said casually. Obviously, he did not mind. However, since his son had other ideas, there was no harm in listening.
"First of all, the harm. There were many cases of people disregarding human lives in the martial arts world, and the local officials could not deal with them. They couldn't catch him. As time passed, the people in Jianghu would not put the government in their eyes.”Chu Xiao paused for a moment. He looked at his father. It was so that Mr. Chu could digest it.
"Continue." Mr. Chu pondered for a while when he heard Chu Xiao's words. He put away his indifferent expression. He turned to listen carefully.
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