Didn't wait outside the mansion for too long, Li Ling and others were invited into the door by the marquis's mansion manager. Of course, it was impossible for them to enter the marquis' mansion from the middle gate. It was only treated by the imperial envoy of the court, or the important leader of the barbarians, such as the patriarchs of Duan Gao's family. They could only enter the mansion from the edge gate.

However, the Xiao family also gave him enough face as an official of the court. Not only did Xiao Shiqin, the butler in charge of major affairs in the mansion, welcome him personally, but when he arrived in the second courtyard, the young marquis greeted him again and asked them to a quiet living room inside to meet the Marquis of Dingxi.

On the way, Li Ling had gained some knowledge. This Marquis' Mansion not only looked magnificent outside, but also had a great world inside. The pavilions, towers, corridors and flower paths are all very particular, especially the flowers and trees that are dotted on various passages, which are even more dazzling and beautiful. The red flowers and green leaves are blooming in this middle of winter season in the Central Plains, and the fragrance of flowers is rising.

This is naturally reasonable, because this is the spring city of Kunzhou, which is as warm as spring all year round, and the flowers and trees are naturally much lush than elsewhere. In addition, there are naturally many flower-growing experts in this Hou Mansion Garden, so at this time, it gives people the feeling of being in it and entering a painting.

From this arrangement, Li Ling could think that the Marquis of Dingxi that he was going to meet was definitely not the brave warrior he had imagined before. It would be impossible to say that he was a Confucian general.

In fact, when Li Ling was really surprised when he saw the Dingxi Marquis smiling in the hall. The Dingxi Marquis Xiao Ding's head was not inconsistent with what he thought, but it was a completely opposite image!

Because Xiao Chengzhi was there, Li Ling always believed that Dingxi Hou would definitely be big and thick, at most he was more majestic, and his appearance would definitely not match the adjectives such as handsome. But the person in front of him, although he was over 40 years old, his face was still as elegant and handsome as a few long beards under his chin. He was completely like a scholar who had learned from Confucianism. How could he have the heroic spirit that a general in the army should have?

Moreover, he looks so different from his son. Although Xiao Chengzhi cannot be said to be ugly, he is also very ordinary. He has an ordinary black face and an ordinary black nose. He looks like an ordinary Yunnan man anyway, but why is his father so handsome? For a moment, Li Ling wanted to shout in his heart: "Are you biological father and son?"

Fortunately, he quickly came back to his senses and honestly paid homage to the other party as usual in the officialdom: "Secretary Li Ling meets Dingxi Marquis." Yang Chen and his friends also greeted him, and the few of them immediately bowed.

Xiao Ding immediately smiled and took two steps forward, and helped Li Ling up: "Mr. Li doesn't have to be too polite, get up and talk first."

Li Ling took advantage of the situation and said, "I dare not, the Marquis called me Li Ling or the name Wen Zhong."

"Then Wen Zhong will sit down first and see the tea." Xiao Ding immediately changed his name, which brought the relationship between the two closer together, and gave the person to a seat aside. Then he smiled, "I already know the fact that you helped me stabilize the place after you arrived in southern Yunnan. Wen Zhong is worthy of being an official sent to the southwest by the court. He is indeed outstanding in his ability."

While Li Ling and his friends came to Kunzhou, Xiao Chengzhi had already passed on the related matters first. Xiao Ding naturally knew the role Li Ling and others played in these matters, which was also the reason why he valued Li Ling quite politely. Otherwise, even if he was an official of the court, it might not be possible to see the dignified Marquis of Dingxi.

Li Ling naturally felt humble again, and then the two sides continued to greet each other for a few words, then slowly got to the point: "Wen Zhong, where are you currently in your position? Why did you come to southern Yunnan from afar?" This was not said in the news, and Li Ling didn't look like an imperial envoy in the court.

Li Ling smiled: "I will not hide it from the Marquis. The lower official is the head of the Qing official of the Ministry of Revenue in the Capital. This time, it is related to the taxes that should be paid to the court in southern Yunnan this year."

Li Ling's answer was a bit surprising, but it was reasonable to think about it carefully. Xiao Ding pondered for a moment: "Go and call Wen Qing over."

In order to better govern the local area, the Dayue court would set up governors, a lieutenant in many key provinces, who held military and political power. For example, the two Huaihe River and Jiangnan, there were governors in power. However, not all places were governors, and southern Yunnan was one of them.

Because the situation here is too complicated, the local officials and barbarians are much greater than the Han people. Even if they are really appointed, they may not have much power. So in the end, they can only hand over this part of the power to the Dingxi Hou lineage, who should have only guarded the local area and held military power.

So in a sense, the military and financial power in southern Yunnan were controlled by Xiao Ding. However, as the local military and political chief, he had to deal with various affairs of the Han and barbarian tribes. Even if he had the ability, he was unable to directly manage them all, so he had some measures to decentralize power. Among them, the fiscal and taxation area was handed over to an official named Zhou Wenqing under him.

Unlike the separation of the official residences and yamen in the Central Plains, the Dingxi Marquis Mansion is where many of his subordinates work, so when Xiao Ding greeted him, Zhou Wenqing rushed over quickly and took a document in his hand. Obviously, he knew why the Marquis asked him to come.

Sure enough, after Xiao Ding gave a brief introduction and explanation, Zhou Wenqing looked at Li Ling and showed a hint of embarrassment: "Mr. Li, the official dare not hide it from you. This time the tax figures set by the court are indeed seriously greater than in previous years. I am afraid that it will be impossible for me to deliver them in southern Yunnan."

"But it's just more than 300,000 taels of silver. How could such a huge southern Yunnan not even be able to take out this little silver?" Li Ling asked tentatively.

Zhou Wenqing smiled bitterly again: "If the taxes in southern Yunnan are controlled by the government, it is naturally not a problem. Not to mention 300,000 or 500,000 can be taken out. But, the taxes in the southwest are never that simple. Not only are we imperial governments levied from the people, but also all villages and ethnic groups will also collect taxes in their own names. Moreover, because of the consistent practice, the people often hand over the silver to the local officials of each village first. As for the real court taxes, they mostly end up with arrears, and very few can be collected."

This is also a major feature of the southwest, which is that the local people, regardless of the Han and Barbarians, take the barbarians' demands seriously, but the imperial edicts against the court are mostly made from the left ear and the right ear. It is already considered to be enough to give Dingxi Hou a face.

Zhou Wenqing expressed the difficulties one by one with a bitter face, and finally said: "Take last year as an example, the court set a tax standard of 100,000 taels for us, but the real amount of money was only 23,000 taels. This amount of money was far from enough for our Dingxi Army. In the end, we had to ask the court for help..."

Xiao Ding also added a little embarrassedly at this time: "I'm not afraid of Wen Zhong, you guys laughed at. In the past few years, most of the military pay of Dingxi Army has to rely on the court to provide assistance. So let alone giving these hundreds of thousands of silver to the court, even if you only give a fraction of it, I'm afraid it won't be possible."

Li Ling's heart suddenly sank at this time. He really didn't expect things to be so bad. Looking at the tax situation in Qianzhou, he felt that no matter how he could achieve his expectations this year, it would be better now, but this is the answer.

But in fact, if you think about it carefully, it's really the case.

The situation in Qianzhou is because the Long family, who was originally the leader, is a barbarian, so the two taxes can be combined. If they really need to be delivered to the court, they can still squeeze them a little. However, it is different from southern Yunnan. Those barbarians will not take into account the needs of the court. Asking them to spit out the flesh that is in their mouths is no different from pulling teeth from tiger mouths.

As for increasing taxes and exploiting the people, not to mention that Xiao Ding would never agree, even Li Ling would not dare to make such unreasonable demands. Because once he did this, he would push the people to the barbarian tribes, and the situation in southern Yunnan would become more and more chaotic, and it might even completely break the current delicate balance.

Xiao Ding looked at Li Ling with a shame: "Wen Zhong, I am really powerless in this matter. I hope you don't blame me. I don't think the court will really punish you for this matter, right?"

His last sentence is true. Who in the court does not know taxes or anything else can't count on the southwest provinces. This is not a place to collect money, but a place to spend money, just to spend money to buy peace. However, understanding the truth does not mean that no one will not use it to write articles. Li Ling can be convinced that as long as he fails to hand over the full amount of money into the treasury after October this year, Bian Xuedao will deal with himself with legitimate reasons.

Seeing Li Ling's disappointment, Xiao Ding could only sigh: "What is the difficulty of Wen Zhong? Why not say it out and see if this marquis can help you in the court."

"This... the servant thanks the marquis for his kindness, but let the servant think more about this matter and then give him an answer."

"Well, since that's the case, it's not easy for you to come to southern Yunnan. Let's stay in the mansion first, wait for two days to participate in the annual festival of worshiping the God of Spring. This is a very rare Barbarian Festival in the Central Plains." Dingxi Hou changed his identity very quickly, and quickly became a passionate master.

Li Ling naturally would not refuse this. In fact, he was not completely desperate, and always felt that things had a turnaround, but he just couldn't find a breakthrough for a while. At that moment, he thanked Xiao Ding again, and then led by Xiao Shiqin to live in a courtyard in a certain place in the mansion.
Chapter completed!