I clearly wanted to be a tyrant, but how did I become the greatest emperor of all time?

Chapter 166: The Western Regions are restless and covet the Protectorate

It’s still more reliable to check the results from Beijing!

I wonder what kind of surprise Yang Zhen can bring me?

Li Tian certainly had no interest in managing Western Xinjiang.

If accepting Guiren's army would not waste money and ruin the country's destiny, Li Tiancai would not care about Western Xinjiang or not.

But it would be a good thing if the imperial court could continue to consume blood in the western border.

Just when Li Tian was thinking about the situation in Western Xinjiang.

Under the leadership of Zhang Lun, Yang Zhen led two thousand soldiers and began to cross the vast desert.

The desert west of Mobei is a large uninhabited area, and the countries in the Western Regions are scattered along this ancient Silk Road.

Before the rise of maritime trade, porcelain and silk from the East could only be transported to the West via the Silk Road.

During the Han Dynasty, the Silk Road was an important trade route.

By controlling the Silk Road, we can contain the nomadic peoples and suppress Turpan.

Before the Great Zhou Dynasty, every dynasty would establish the Western Frontier Protectorate.

Hucheng is the base camp of the Western Xinjiang Protectorate.

Zhang Lun has gone to Da Zhou and requested to return home.

At this time, Zhang Bingchang, the leader of the Guiren Army, was looking towards the east in the yamen.

Will the Zhou court accept their troops from the previous dynasty?

Transportation in Western Xinjiang was cut off, and Zhang Bingchang had no idea about the movements of the Great Zhou. At this time, he could only wait anxiously.

However, the news that Guiren Army was going to return to the east had already spread throughout the Western Frontier.

Hucheng is a key city guarding the Silk Road.

The Jushi River, which winds through the lake city, is a key river on the Silk Road.

Only around the Boulder River can food be grown on a large scale.

This is the fertile land in Western Xinjiang.

Of course, there are many people who covet this place.

It’s just that the Central Plains dynasty was prosperous and the Guiren Army’s combat effectiveness was also good.

That’s why the Western Frontier countries were unable to capture Lake City.

But now that the Guiren Army is heading back east, won’t Hucheng be ownerless?

All the countries in Western Xinjiang began to gather in Hucheng, hoping to find out the news about Guiren Army.

Zhang Bingchang also didn't want to cause any trouble before returning to the east, so he asked the Guiren Army to be patient.

The Moon Kingdom, to the west of Lake City, is the country most interested in Lake City.

The King of the Moon Kingdom sent an envoy of 2,000 people to visit Lake City suddenly.

Zhang Bingchang was quite troubled, as the thoughts of the Yue people were obvious to him.

But now the entire Guiren Army wants to return to the Great Zhou and has no intention of fighting at all.

Zhang Bingchang could only receive the "envoys" from the Kingdom of Yue and arrange them in the camps around Hucheng.

Not only the Yue people, but also the Checheng and Baikang countries sent so-called "envoys".

They all planned to occupy Hucheng immediately after the Qui Nhon Army withdrew.

Under this delicate balance, Lake City unexpectedly became peaceful.

But all this is just the calm before the storm.

Yang Zhen's team is still struggling forward in the vast desert.

At this time, the prosperous Zhejiang officialdom was once again hit by a storm.

Huang Xiao, the governor of salt affairs in Huaihe, Yuhang and Zhejiang counties, dealt with the salt corruption case in Zhejiang Prefecture.

From the Zhejiang Provincial Governor down, three prefects and fourteen county magistrates were all taken to Kyoto to be punished.

Huang Xiao turned the entire Zhejiang province upside down in one fell swoop!

The Yuhang area is now trembling with fear.

Although Yuhang’s deficit was not as large as Zhejiang’s, illegal salt production was still rampant.

Now Huang Xiao, the plague god, is coming to Yuhang, and the whole Yuhang is in panic.

The Yuhang governor was not involved in the salt administration scandal, but the turmoil in Yuhang still gave him a headache.

Huang Xiao acted quickly. After dealing with the case in Zhejiang, he immediately headed to Yuhang.

Huang Xiao did not take the official road or stay at the post station. Instead, he dressed up as a businessman and headed east from Zhejiang Prefecture to Yuhang.

Today's Yuhang no longer has the scene of crisscrossing fields and paddy fields.

Various projects were set up in the countryside of Yuhang, with thick smoke rising from the chimneys.

Yuhang has now become a province with the largest coal consumption after Luzhou.

The brocade and silk reeling industry that Lu Weibin left behind in Huajiang is now very prosperous.

Since the lifting of the maritime ban, merchants from the West and Southeast Asia also began to go to the Huajiang dock.

Whether it's porcelain or silk, these are all best-sellers.

In particular, there was an English company called West Indies, which had dozens of large ships heading to Huajiang Port almost every month.

Whether it was tea from Zhejiang Prefecture or porcelain and silk brocade from Yuhang, they bought as much as they could get.

This group of blond-haired and blue-eyed barbarians would even fight among themselves over goods.

However, Lu Weibin implemented the policy of allocating land tax to each acre in Yuhang, forcing the wealthy to sell their land at low prices.

Yuhang's agriculture has achieved remarkable development.

Being able to farm your own land is always more positive than farming for a wealthy lord.

The whole Yuhang can be said to be very peaceful.

Huang Xiao also felt that the people in Yuhang were happier than those in Zhejiang Prefecture.

However, Huang Xiao still found that private salt trading was prevalent in the Yuhang area, and many people were accustomed to buying and selling salt privately.

It seems that Yuhang’s salt problem is as serious as Zhejiang’s.

But it’s also true that almost all the salt merchants in the world gathered in Yuhang.

The reason why Yuhang’s deficit was not too big was that the salt permits issued by Yuhang accounted for half of the Da Zhou.

It is precisely because of the huge income that the deficit is covered up.

The amount of salt imported into Yuhang was also gradually decreasing.

There must be something fishy here!

Yuhang’s salt business is still seriously corrupt!

Huang Xiao made a secret visit and found that there were people selling salt illegally in almost every prefecture and county.

After Huang Xiao arrived at the Yuhang Provincial Government Office.

The Yuhang governor simply said to Huang Xiao:

"Sir Huang, the reselling of salt permits has long been a common practice in Yuhang."

"I also thought about banning it when I took office, but the effect was minimal."

Huang Xiao was also surprised.

I never expected that the Yuhang Governor would be so direct.

The governor of Yuhang was a student of Tang Xiaoren, and had supported Lu Weibin's proposal to distribute the land tax according to the amount of land he levied.

Now the whole Yuhang has implemented the land-based tax system, and people's livelihood has improved a lot.

Huang Xiao also heard along the way that the Yuhang Governor was an honest and capable official.

But even the governor finds it difficult to solve this problem?

Huang Xiao then realized to what extent the salt administration in the world had become corrupt.

Huang Xiao asked sincerely:

"Sir, how did the salt administration become so corrupt?"

The Yuhang governor sighed and said:

"In fact, it is still a problem of the court system."

"Oh?"

"Since the founding of the Great Zhou, a rule has been established that the salaries of officials at all levels will not be increased."

"Compared with the previous dynasty's preferential treatment of scholars and officials, the current dynasty's salaries are so low that it's a pity."

"Even I only get a salary of a few dozen taels of silver a year."

"But this money is not only used to cover the family's food, drink, defecation and urination, but also to support the retainers and advisors."

“It’s not enough to make ends meet.”

Huang Xiao also nodded.

Even among officials in Beijing, many cannot support themselves without extra income.

In the early days of the People's Republic of China, prices were very low and the salaries at that time were considered relatively generous.

However, as the Great Zhou Dynasty celebrated its 100th anniversary, prices continued to rise.