After Yuan Yao and Zhang Zhongjing parted ways, they hurriedly ran to Yuan Shu Palace.
"Look at how anxious you are. Here, the imperial edict has been written.”
When Yuan Shu saw Yuan Yao rush in, he thought that he was in a hurry to get married, so he couldn't help but scold him with a smile.
"Old Yuan, how much is the tax collected by the imperial court?”
Yuan Yao asked directly.
Seeing his son asking so seriously, Yuan Shu also put away his joking thoughts.
"Three taxes and one tax. Did that Zhang guy say bad things about me? If I didn't need to rely on him to treat you, I would have dealt with him long ago.”
Yuan Shu knew what was going on.
"Are you crazy? Aren't you afraid that the people under your rule will rebel with such heavy taxes?”
"What do you know! I just want to leave you with more money.”
Yuan Shu said unhappily.
Yuan Yao: Thank you!
"Besides, I have to feed an army of 200,000. Although I am the emperor, I only have 11 counties under my rule. How can I afford it without collecting heavy taxes?”
Yuan Yao instantly understood the crux of the problem. The expenditure of a few hundred thousand troops was not a small amount.
If Yuan Shu owned all the thirteen states, it would naturally be the normal agricultural tax. However, Yuan Shu only had two states at most, so the tax rate would naturally increase and be passed on to the people.
"But it can't be so high! If there was a shortage of food, the people would definitely rebel.”
"What are you afraid of? What was the point of raising so many armies? Suppress it directly!
Besides, how could he drink honey water without money?”
Yuan Shu said indifferently.
"Why don't you drink less? Collect less tax?"
Yuan Yao probed.
"Forget it! Get lost!"
Yuan Shu didn't even lift his eyelids and directly ordered him to leave.
Seeing this, Yuan Yao was at a loss. He didn't know what to do. After all, with the level suppression, Yuan Yao couldn't force it.
At this moment, Eunuch Wang came in from outside.
"Your Majesty, urgent military reports came from Runan and Nanyang.”
Yuan Shu stood up and quickly took the military report to read.
"Cao Aman! The damned eunuch descendant, the little scum behind me back then, dares to go against me again and again?!
There was also Liu Biao, this old gang noob, who was also known as the Eight Steeds. He was just an old mule, a person who deceived the world and stole his name!”
After Yuan Shu finished reading it, he began to greet the other party politely.
This time, he cursed for a full hour until his throat was hoarse.
"Old Yuan must have suffered a great loss!"
Yuan Yao could already infer the seriousness of the matter from the length of time Yuan Shu scolded.
Seeing Yuan Shu stop scolding and sit on the couch panting heavily, his chest heaving up and down like a bellow, Yuan Yao quickly went forward to comfort him.
"Calm down, calm down. Don't be angry and ruin your body.”
Yuan Shu had three hobbies in life: drinking honey water, scolding Yuan Shao, and forking him out.
"What exactly happened?"
Yuan Yao asked after seeing Yuan Shu's emotions stabilize.
"Cao Aman sent troops to attack Runan. Liu Biao and the Xiliang thief Zhang Xiu occupied Nanyang! The garrison generals were either killed or surrendered, yet those commoners were actually giving them food and wine, lining the streets to welcome them. They said they were welcoming the rebel army, they really deserved to die!”
Yuan Shu cursed.
This wasn't strange. He had lost the two richest counties under his rule, so he was naturally furious.
"It's a blessing in disguise."
"What do you mean? Those were two fertile lands! What else can I gain from losing it?"
"Old Yuan, our territory is too deep. It's only a matter of time before we lose Nanyang and Runan.”
Yuan Shu's sphere of influence was on the Qinling Mountains and Huaihe River. The north and south were enemies, so he had no strategic advantage at all.
"And haven't you already moved most of the population of the two counties to Lianghuai? We didn't lose out too much."
There was a lot of fertile land in the Huai River, and the yield was even more than in the Central Plains. Yuan Shu moved a lot of people into the Huai River to reclaim the fertile land.
"Then what should we do now?"
"It's fine if it's lost. We're out of our reach now, so let's not add to our troubles. We should still manage our basic business well.
If I'm not wrong, Sun Ce will also take the opportunity to break off relations with us and establish himself in Jiangdong.”
"What? How dare the Sun family's child do this?"
Yuan Shu couldn't believe it. The Sun Family's father and son had all followed him. If it wasn't for Yuan Shu's help, they would definitely be a nobody now.
Yuan Shu was already panicking. He was still the number one duke in the world with eleven counties in his hands, but now he had lost the territory of Yuzhou and Jingzhou in an instant.
If Sun Ce betrayed him again, then he would become a commander without a commander.
At this moment, another eunuch entered the hall with a letter in his hand.
"Your Majesty, Huaiyi Lieutenant Sun Ce has sent a letter from River East.”
"It's probably a letter to break up with you.”
Yuan Yao said directly.
Yuan Shu still couldn't believe it. He took the letter and read it.
"Ah! He regretted letting Sun Ce cross River East! Now, it has become a huge problem!"
Yuan Shu began to greet the eighteen generations of ancestors of the Sun family.
"Son! What should he do now? Sun Ce ruled the river, so we only have three counties left.”
After Sun Ce became independent, Yuan Shu's territory was Lujiang Prefecture, Jiujiang Prefecture, and Xu Prefecture's Guangling Prefecture.
In an instant, he had turned from a boss to a stinky younger brother.
"What are you afraid of? Back then, Cao Aman was ambushed by Lu Bu and Yanzhou was taken over. At that time, Cao Cao was only left with one county, but in the end, he still managed to turn the tables!
Old Yuan, do you think you are inferior to Cao Cao?”
Now, he had to arouse Yuan Shu's fighting spirit. Once Yuan Shu had the intention to break the pot and throw it all away, it would be difficult for even the gods to save him.
"Nonsense! How could Cao Aman, that little bastard, compare to your old man?! How could a eunuch like him compare to the four generations and three dukes of my family?”
Yuan Shu was instantly excited when he heard that.
"That's more like it! It's just a scabbing disease. It's not worth worrying about!"
Yuan Yao continued to cheer Yuan Shu on.
"My son, do you have any good ideas?"
"Cao Aman holds the emperor in his hands and commands the vassals. This time, he has occupied Runan, so there's a high chance that he won't personally attack us. Although Sun Ce has become independent, Liu Yao has occupied Yuzhang County, so he probably won't start a war with us for the time being.
So we just need to deal with the summer sleeping mat seller!”
After Yuan Shu proclaimed himself emperor, Liu Bei was the only one who was attacked in the first wave, and Yuan Shu managed to survive.
However, the second wave of attacks was from Cao Cao, Lu Bu, Liu Bei, and Sun Ce, who had joined forces and destroyed Yuan Shu.
"Then, should we still act according to the plan you set before?”
After Yuan Shu listened to Yuan Yao's analysis, he was relieved.
"That's right, join forces with Lu Bu to eliminate Liu Bei. Lu Bu is just an ordinary person, much easier to deal with than Liu Bei.”
"Good, good, good! I, Yuan Shu, have my Saint Child with me. Why should I worry about a group of rats?”
"Forget it! Now that we're talking about the issue of agricultural taxes, don't you see that the people under our rule are lining the roads to welcome the enemy!”
Yuan Yao took the opportunity to say.
Although he had lost more than half of his territory, it could also serve as a warning to Yuan Shu.
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