Chapter 457: Didn’t Make Things Difficult for Him

Lu Desheng thought that after becoming the governor of Pingzhou, all his hardships would be over.

After all, the governor of a state is equivalent to a local emperor, and there is no mother-in-law on his head. Doesn’t that mean you can do whatever you want?

But that's not the case.

The daughter led a group of subordinates to build Pingzhou.

People want to live a good life.

Everyone works hard. In order to plant good land, make the land produce more crops, and keep the people fed, they used all kinds of methods.

He was too embarrassed to be lazy, and then he became Mr. Lu who went out in spring and autumn, walking in the fields and teaching farmers.

Is it easy for him? This year he has worn out nearly ten pairs of shoes, just to prevent everyone's efforts from going to waste.

Even the common people said that he was the most approachable official they had ever seen.

Now that they can harvest, Song Mo actually wants to charge them more taxes in Pingzhou?

It is tolerable, but what is intolerable?

Seeing Lu Desheng's expression change, Prince Gong advised him, "Thirty taxes per one is what the common people should pay, and the court did not charge more."

Lu Desheng is smiling but not smiling, why are you playing a numbers game with him?

"Then tell me, what is the average yield per mu calculated by the court this year?" Every year, the imperial court would send people to calculate the average yield per mu for that year, and then calculate the amount of taxes for landed families.

"Two hundred and eighty-one pounds."

"That's 30 pounds per acre. On average, we have to pay 9 pounds, 30, 26 dollars per acre of land in Pingzhou."

"no."

Lu Desheng raised his eyelids, "Why?"

Prince Gong said sincerely, "Mr. Lu, your Pingzhou harvest is good this year. You should base it on the actual output."

"Prince Gong, how much production do you think we should pay taxes on?"

"In Pingzhou, you can pay four hundred catties per mu of land."

Four hundred pounds? Lu Desheng almost laughed out loud. This year, the highest yield of the best land in Pingzhou is only 400 catties per mu. There are few such productive lands.

Not all the fields in Pingzhou are good fields. There are distinctions between thin fields, medium fields and beautiful fields.

Another example is that there are a lot of reclaimed fields in Pingzhou this year. These fields are so barren and the yield per mu is so low that they cannot even be called thin fields.

Fortunately, the wasteland is tax-free for the first three years, but after three years of cultivation, it will not become fertile all of a sudden, and the yield can be imagined.

Now the imperial court sent Prince Gong to tell him that he worked hard, his daughter worked hard, and the people worked hard for a year, and the imperial court wanted to take away all the income from their labor?

"Oh, I understand. If our harvest in Pingzhou is higher this year, we have to pay more. What if the harvest in other places is lower than the yield per mu you calculated this year? Can we pay less? If so, that's no problem."

Prince Gong was speechless.

"Lord Lu, you must also be considerate of the court's difficulties." Prince Gong said sincerely.

Lu Desheng thought to himself, was he sympathetic to Song Mo's difficulties? He understands. Originally, the discovery of Longcheng Salt Lake was to be reported to the imperial court. He had thought about finding a time to report it, but now? What to report!

"Be good, this is going well. When I get back, I can put in a nice word for you in front of the emperor."

Lu Desheng: No, he doesn’t want to be good! You've all been bullied, why should you be good? Can you give him a kind word to Song Mo? Do you think he cares about it? !

"Lu Desheng, don't forget your responsibilities as an official of the imperial court!" What's going on with Lu Desheng? Collecting taxes from the people is not cutting off their flesh, so is there any need to object so much?

Lu Desheng almost rolled his eyes, "I haven't forgotten, but I'm still a local official." His voice was arrogant.

No matter how high his ideological consciousness is, he would rather leave more food to the common people than give it to Song Mo.

If it were the late emperor who was in power at this time, he, Lu Desheng, would have accomplished this matter without saying a word and with all his might.

But let him point a knife at the people who trusted him for Song Mo? Forget it.

"Prince Gong, is the court very short of money and food?" Lu Desheng asked curiously.

Thinking that things were turning around, Prince Gong quickly cheered up, "Yes, yes, you are released. I don't know that the emperor and ministers are really having a headache."

"This is wrong. How come I heard that Xie Zhan collected twenty million taels of silver in Shu County and Gusu Province, and the emperor just allowed him to do whatever he wanted without confiscating it?" Didn't he treat Xie Zhan favorably? If you are short of money or food, you should go to Xie Zhan!

Prince Gong: ...it hurts my heart.

"This is all a misunderstanding."

"Prince Gong, Your Majesty, he can't always catch honest people and bully them."

Prince Gong sneered, what could he say?

In the end, he could only say seriously, "Master Lu, you should consider what I just said. I returned without success, and the next person probably won't be as polite as me."

"It's okay if you want to accept it this way. You issue this order." He will never take the blame.

Lu Desheng didn't believe it. Prince Gong and the emperor dared to force the people of Pingzhou to pay taxes based on the yield of four hundred catties per mu? Aren't you afraid of public dissatisfaction? If they dared, he would give them a thumbs up.

Prince Gong said quickly, "Actually, you misunderstood. The yield per mu is not necessarily 400 catties. The imperial court just wants you to pay taxes based on the actual output in Pingzhou." He backed down.

The idea is to let them go higher. Okay, thirty tax per one, right? Do you think he will be afraid?

"That's absolutely fine. Don't bother me with anything. Since Prince Gong and you have come to Pingzhou, you can wait until Pingzhou's autumn harvest, count the grain and pay the tax before going back."

"I'll think about it." Prince Gong was quite tempted, but it was still a long way from the autumn harvest, and if he had to wait so long, he couldn't make a decision immediately.

But when Prince Gong returned to the restaurant where he was staying and told his subordinates about this, they didn't agree.

"Food is easy to be stolen and is the most difficult to supervise. Especially for Lu Desheng, the parent official, if the people are allowed to let go..."

Prince Gong frowned, "Will Lu Desheng not do this?"

Subordinates: Their prince is still simple and has no vigilance at all. At the same time, they sighed that Lu Desheng was very good to their prince and he had not been harmed by him much.

"Forget it, I can't win this matter, I'll go back to Chang'an the day after tomorrow!" Prince Gong rubbed his eyebrows and felt tired.

Subordinates agreed with his decision.

...

"Dad, why did Prince Gong come?"

Lv Desheng told him his purpose, "He's a good man, I didn't make things difficult for him."

Lv Songli pondered, she couldn't understand Song Mo a little bit, it was obviously the calm before the storm, didn't the generals remind him?

At this time, let alone paying more taxes, she planned to delay the taxes that were originally sent to Chang'an every year, and would not send them away immediately.

Now that Prince Gong is here, thinking of Xie Zhan's big fanfare to send silver to Chang'an, her eyes flashed.

"Dad, I think you can agree to him."

With the reminder of his own daughter, Lu Desheng understood. He regretted it immediately and slapped his thigh! He was too angry before, why didn't he think of this? They could just agree to it first, and whether the next batch of grain would be robbed or burned, wouldn't it be up to them to decide?