"Officials, this is the dried wheat fish bought by buyers from Dongliu. How about it tastes?" Just as Zhao Bing was thinking about his concern, Wang De came over with a plate of dried fish and presented it to him.

"It tastes good, very delicious!" Zhao Bing lifted one and put it in his mouth. The more he chewed it, the more fragrant it became, the different tastes from the dried fish I ate in the past. He also greeted Wang Yinglin and the others, "Take it together, it's okay for me to eat it!"

"Well, this dried fish is very good, crispy and delicious, and it's not too hot to eat!" Wang Yinglin took one and chewed it, nodded frequently and said.

"Wheat fish is a specialty of Dongliu County, and the fresh food is very good!" Xie Fangde had eaten it and said while chewing.

"Your Majesty doesn't know that Your Majesty can't live without dried fish. He always has to eat a few pieces of them, but he is one of the experts!" Wang Yinglin said with a smile.

"Yes, when I left Beijing, I brought some dried fish from Beijing, and I had already finished eating it. I could only buy some on the spot, but it always didn't taste good. Your Majesty hasn't eaten it for a long time!" Wang De nodded and said regretfully, as if he was the manager who did not do his duty.

"This one is good to eat. You can buy more before leaving. When the weather is cold, you can also keep it for a few more days." Zhao Bing ate another one and said, "Oh, I asked about the recipe I made, and I can also make it by myself after returning to Beijing."

"The method is simple. Just put the caught fresh fish into the pot, add a little vegetable oil and seasonings, bake it over low heat, turn it frequently, and take it out after it turns yellow, and then dry it for a day. The difficulty is that this wheat fish is a specialty in the pond and cannot be bought elsewhere." Wang De said with a bitter face.

"That's all, don't mention it to outsiders. In the end of the year, Mr. Zheng's dried fish should be delivered, and there is still something to eat." Zhao Bing said immediately after hearing this.

"Your Majesty likes this wheat fish is not a valuable thing. You can give some tribute to the local area from time to time." Xie Fangde said.

"Your Majesty loves the people and does not harass the local area as much as possible. The commonly used dried fish was made by the leader Zheng, the leader of Qiongzhou. At the end of the year, the canal ships sent to the palace were sent to the palace, but they didn't want to mobilize the troops." Wang Yinglin explained.

"The hobbies of the superiors often become disasters for the people." Zhao Bing said sadly, "When we first entered Qiongzhou, I passed by Leizhou, where the clam shells piled up like mountains and stretched for dozens of miles, just because the emperor liked the pearls produced there. In order to please the emperor, local officials tried their best to drive the people to fish in the sea, killing and injuring countless people, just to win the smile of noble people."

"If I now list this wheat fish as a tribute, I will only eat a few ounces a day. In order to ensure the freshness of the fish, the local government will drive the fishermen to catch hundreds of kilograms so that they can still live in a few kilograms after entering Beijing. If I want to ensure that I can eat it every day, I will send people to fish in the lake every day and send fast ships to Beijing to transport it. How much people's efforts will be wasted and how many lives will be killed, but this is just to satisfy my desires."

"Your Majesty is in love with the sufferings of the people in the world, which is really a blessing for the people in the world!" Xie Fangde gave a deep courteous manner.

"The official's eating dried fish actually means not to forget the hardships of the past and the difficulties of starting a business. Always beware of it and not forget the original intention, rather than the desires of the mouth." Seeing that the two of them were getting far away, Wang De said to the two of them.

"Your Majesty's holy virtue, I am ashamed!" The two of them politely said.

"I was trapped in Jiazi Town and I couldn't keep up with three meals. I was so lucky that I could eat enough that I was very happy. Even after entering Qiongzhou, I lacked money and food. The mansion mostly used dried fish to feed, and the upper and lower levels were no different. But at that time, everyone was very satisfied, and no one complained about the poor food." Zhao Bing said.

"On the contrary, after entering Jiangnan, the materials were no longer scarce, and the meat was not short of wine and meat, but they were no longer satisfied. They were resentful. They complained that wine was not famous, and the banquet was not rich, and it was difficult to get chopsticks. They all forgot about the things that happened back then. When the country was destroyed and the family was destroyed, everyone was not afraid of life and death, and rose up to resist the Yuan Dynasty in order to repeat the Song Dynasty and let the people live and work in peace. But the people are still in poverty, and there is no place to settle down. But some of us have forgotten their original intentions, and I always think about it very sad."

"I am ashamed!" Wang Yinglin and Xie Fangde bowed their heads and said.

"I believe the two gentlemen have heard about what happened in the capital. I have obtained the privilege of tax exemption from some gentry, which not only aroused their resistance, but some officials and local officials and the famous scholars and scholars in the court and local areas also colluded with them, helped each other and refused to pay taxes. They also frequently provoked right and wrong, wanting to force me to surrender. What do you think?" Zhao Bing asked.

"Minist thinks that the people are the foundation of the country, but there are evil gentry who do not think about the kindness of the king. In order to seek personal gain, they have become more and more powerful in destroying equal land, buying land, secretly sheltering illegal villagers, evading taxes, and injuring the foundation of the country. They must be severely punished before the new policy can be implemented." Xie Fangdedao. As a local high-ranking official, he certainly knew the gentry's 'dominance'.

The gentry class of the Song Dynasty included officials at all levels, retired officials, awarded officials, donated officials, and students from the Imperial College and prefectures and prefectures and county schools. Their wives also enjoyed corresponding privileges. Their status was second only to that of aristocratic landlords and was an important pillar of feudal rule.

Therefore, gentry landlords enjoy generous treatment and privileges. In terms of politics, gentry's legal status is higher than that of ordinary people, and the judicial department has no right to detain officials without authorization. In terms of economy, although it is stipulated that gentry will not be exempted from the regular supply of money and grain, it is still common for gentry to delay dependents and pay less taxes and avoid labor. They even call themselves official households and establish themselves "official armor" and "official maps" to distinguish them from the common people's households.

In addition, many gentry often rely on their power to roam the countryside, abuse and bully the people, and the gentry landlords who stay at home can even decide the stay and go to local officials. The gentry also merged heavily, occupied other people's land, accepted offerings, accepted land, and received illegal land and food, and took over taxes. The gentry landlords with power, paid generous treatment, and had a lot of land, all had an extremely luxurious life.

The worst thing is that some gentry took advantage of the opportunity of the state to reduce taxes and exempt taxes in order to restore people's livelihood and still paid the offer, collecting rent and taxes to the households, and passing on the corvee labor to them. This means that they not only did not pay taxes and export corvee labor to the state, but also made a fortune in vain, causing the country's people-friendly policies to fail, and also ruined the reputation of the court, leading to many conflicts between officials and the people and opposition to each other.

"These people are already unscrupulous. I sympathize with the difficulty of studying hard for many years. I have served the country. When I first recovered Jiangnan, I did not study them deeply, and I also recognized the fame and experience they had achieved in the past. But they did not think about the emperor's kindness, but instead became more and more powerful. In fact, they thought that our dynasty respected Confucianism and loved scholars. I decided that I did not dare to attack them, so I became more and more arrogant." Zhao Bing said coldly.

"Your Majesty, the bad gentry is abominable and should be punished, but this matter needs to be slowed down and not act too rush to avoid unstable court." Wang Yinglin advised from the side when he saw His Majesty's face was not good.

"This wind cannot be long. If you indulge it, it will become more and more intense. Otherwise, it will be difficult to return and cause endless harm." Zhao Bing punched the ship on the side of the ship.

He knew clearly what the elite class in the Song Dynasty looked like. To be honest, since the Han Dynasty, the most powerful class in Chinese society during the unified dynasty were the intellectual bureaucratic class or the bureaucratic landlord class. The Han Dynasty was called the powerful family, the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties were called the gentry family, the Tang Dynasty was called the local clan, the Song Dynasty was called the "Scene House", and the Ming and Qing Dynasties were called "country gentry, gentry".

But no matter how the name changes, it is essentially a product of the form of "the imperial power is not inferior to the county", they are all local powers, the backstage of the imperial officials, and the controller of the country's economy and population and the spokesperson of culture. They formed local power groups and controlled the vast majority of ordinary people. The Song Dynasty used official and gentry landlords as the most reliable basis for their rule, making the official and gentry landlords not only the most profitable, but also the tiger's butt.

No one can infringe on their vested interests, neither ministers nor emperors. The reforms launched by Wang Anshi in history were not the public land law implemented by Jia Sidao, who was a good person and a good official, and Wei Zhongxian imposed commercial taxes, trying to infringe on the interests of officials, gentry and landlords. Therefore, the historical books that took some time after their death were all targets of scolding by thousands of people.

Of course, Zhao Bing knew what these people were. Therefore, after recovering Jiangnan, he severely suppressed some major clans and gentry under the name of "resigning to the Mongolian Yuan, treason and rebelling against the tribes". But he also understood that it was impossible for him to completely eliminate the gentry class under the current situation. After all, they are the elite class of this society and he still needed them to manage the country.

Therefore, after suppressing the great families and wealthy families that pose the greatest threat to him, Zhao Bing did not delve into the small and medium-sized gentry and recruited officials from it, hoping that they could be grateful to the emperor and contribute to the court. However, Zhao Bing felt that he was too naive and that it would be harder to let the vested interests give up their privileges than to quit drug addiction. Some of them also regarded their kindness as weak.

On the other hand, when the Yuan Dynasty entered the Central Plains and ruled Jiangnan for more than ten years, some of the gentry rose up to resist. But more people had nothing under the rule of the Mongol Yuan and were trembling under the iron hooves. Not to mention the privileges they had in the past, a small ten-home family could make them feel frightened. Why is this? Because most of the bureaucrats in the Mongol Yuan despise traditional Chinese politics, and officials were not good at writing and writing. If the gentry dared to quarrel, they would really use a knife to cut him.

"Your Majesty's desire for change is very supportive, but this matter should be slowed down to avoid hurting the foundation of the country!" Wang Yinglin advised again. He knew that Your Majesty's victory in the Northern Expedition was at its peak, and he returned to the capital with tens of thousands of triumphant men. If I turned my face, I would definitely kill blood. This can certainly curb the power of the gentry, but it will still be a great harm to the long-term stability of the country.
Chapter completed!