Pig Killer

Chapter 296

"Have you seen the Xiongnu?" The raccoon asked with eyes wide open, "Are they very fierce? They look like bears."

"We haven't gone yet. We didn't go to the northernmost part this time. We just suppressed the bandits around here." Shen Hui'e looked at them with her warm eyes and said, "Rest for two days before leaving." She smiled and said, "The Huns are just like us. Maybe they grow stronger by eating meat, but most of them can't eat enough, not like bears. Otherwise, why would they come to rob us!"

"What if we discover the Huns?" Da Chong looked at her nervously and said.

"The only thing we have is to fight. What else can we do? If we let them march straight in with you guys behind them and we can't stop them, it will be a disaster for us. This is not just talk, it is real." Shen Hui'e said with frost in her eyes.

"We must not meet." Li Nu clasped his hands together and knelt on the bed, saying, "God bless us. If we meet, we will have to wait until we are strong enough."

"Silly girl, they won't wait for you to become strong. They will take advantage of your weakness to kill you!" Shen Hui'e looked at them with deep and bottomless eyes and said, "The Xiongnu are also divided into many tribes. If you meet them, maybe you can try to do business with them."

"Business?" Huang Zhongchang raised his eyebrows and smiled.

"Harmony brings wealth! Our current strength is not enough to confront the Huns. If we can do business, we should do business first. We can also learn more about the Huns." Shen Hui'e said to them with her jade-like eyes.

"Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win every battle." The tiger looked at her with bright eyes and said.

"Get information and be a spy!" Huang Zhongchang said to her with his eyes slightly narrowed.

"Harmony brings wealth! Look at what you are talking about? Spy? We are collecting information openly, including topography, landforms, and population. Since they are tribes, are there any conflicts between tribes? Are there any enemies? Are they bullied by larger tribes?" Shen Hui'e looked at them with deep and penetrating eyes and said, "Can we win them over?"

"Pull one and beat one?" Huang Zhongchang raised his eyebrows slightly.

"That's right! All the forces are fighting each other. The Huns are not living in the sky." Shen Hui'e looked at them with her shiny black eyes and said, "Where there is oppression, there is resistance."

"Like us? The officials force the people to rebel." Huang Zhongchang smiled slightly when he heard this.

"Hmm!" Shen Hui'e raised her eyebrows slightly and looked at them with sparkling eyes.

"So what are you going to sell?" Huang Zhongchang asked curiously.

"Salt." Shen Hui'e looked at them with a smile and said regretfully, "It's a pity that we don't grow tea and weave silk here, otherwise we would make a lot of money."

"Tea and silk are both specialties of the South." Huang Zhongchang said helplessly when he heard this.

"So! Only salt can be sold." Shen Hui'e said with great regret.

"If there's a chance, you can sell it." Huang Zhongchang looked at her with his calm black eyes and said.

"Can we only sell salt?" said the big tiger with a flat mouth, "It's too little."

"Take your time. You can't become fat in one bite." Shen Hui'e looked at them with eyes as gentle as jade and said, "At this stage, we can only sell salt. In the future, we will only sell tea and silk for civilian use. We must not sell ironware and other military-related materials."

"Are you afraid that they will make it into a weapon and point the blade at us?" The tiger looked at her cleverly with its round eyes.

"That's right!" Shen Hui'e nodded vigorously after hearing this, "The court should kill without mercy for such things."

"That's exactly what should happen." The three of them nodded in unison, "It's horrible."

"Is there anything wrong at home?" Shen Hui'e asked them with pure eyes.

"Nothing." Huang Zhongchang shook his head slightly and said, "It's just that the street store is open now, but the goods sold are too few."

"This is normal. The world is not peaceful. Transporting goods requires risking lives." Shen Hui'e said with understanding, "If we are self-sufficient, the impact will not be too great."

"That's right. The most basic needs of life can be met." Huang Zhongchang nodded and said, "It's not possible to get fine goods like silk and satin."

"Even if it works, someone has to buy it! We have already cut down all the wealthy merchants." Shen Hui'e said indifferently, without any ups and downs in her voice.

"Those merchants are too abominable. They are colluding with officials and are unkind to the rich." The tiger pounded the square table angrily, "They hoard goods, drive up prices, and take advantage of the situation to rob. Their methods are simply outrageous. What's even more abominable is the banner they raised: voluntary buying and selling!"

"Businessmen are not that bad." Shen Hui'e pursed her lips and looked at him and said.

"I've never seen a good one anyway." The big tiger looked at her with its black eyes and said, "There's nothing good about merchants in the bamboo slips: they are peddlers with little skills, people who eat for a living... they have connections with kings and princes, their power is greater than that of officials, and they collude with each other for profit!"

"Haha..." Shen Hui'e shook her head and laughed, "Rich businessmen are not encouraged to grow bigger, stronger, and compete in a healthy way. Instead, they are cunning and deceitful, forcing good people to behave like slaves. Officials and businessmen collude to seek greater profits."

"Yeah!" The big tiger pouted and nodded.

"They! There is no idle land in the world, but farmers still starve to death. Those who wear silk and satin are not silkworm breeders! They spare no effort to despise farmers who grow crops and women who raise silkworms and weave cloth." Shen Hui'e looked at them with clear eyes and said, "Look at the land owned by these merchants, you can see that in order to further devour the interests of farmers and silkworm breeders, they keep annexing land, causing farmers to lose their land and have to give them land to farm. The same tricks of silkworm breeders can only raise silkworms and weave cloth for merchants."

"Then what should we do? It seems that we can't restrict merchants too much. The exchange of goods between the north and the south also requires merchants." Huang Zhongchang looked at her with his dark eyes and said.

"Agriculture is the foundation." Shen Hui'e looked at him with her deep and penetrating eyes.

"In the past, the imperial court always regarded food as the people's primary need!" Huang Zhongchang nodded when he heard this.

"Common people have to pay taxes for farming! Merchants also pay taxes, heavy taxes." Shen Hui'e raised her eyebrows and looked at him and said, "Businessmen have high profits, but you know they don't pay taxes."

"What?" The three of them looked at her in shock.

"Don't be surprised. You can check the taxes. Are there any merchants paying taxes?" Shen Hui'e looked at them with her dark pupils and said, "If there are any, it's very little."

"I'll check it out later." Huang Zhongchang rolled up his sleeves and said, "Damn it, only we farmers pay taxes, but the wealthy merchants and high-ranking officials don't pay. Is this reasonable?"

"Scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans are all indispensable. It is impossible for goods from the north and south not to be exchanged, but we must not leave it alone, so as to not let power fall into the hands of the powerful, and they will become too powerful to be defeated or even retaliate, thus digging up the roots of the court." Shen Hui'e looked at them with her deep black eyes and said, "The power of doing business belongs to the government, just like you need a tiger talisman to command the three armies, you also need qualifications to do business, and heavy taxes are imposed."

Shen Hui'e looked at them with her dark eyes and said, "It's impossible that there are no merchants, but you can't just leave them alone, so supervision is very important! We have to prevent them from becoming bigger." She ran her index finger across her chin and said, "In other words, you have to do business under my guidance. If you go beyond that, I'll chop off your hands." Her eyes moved as she said, "People die for money, and birds die for food. Merchants are full of adventurous spirits, just like doing business with the Huns, the merchants lead the way first. Of course, it's dangerous here, and we can send people to protect them."

Huang Zhongchang's eyes lit up when he heard this and said, "We can try this."

"That's right! Listen to me and I'll make you money. If you don't listen, then I'll change people!" Shen Hui'e looked at them with deep and clear eyes and said, "Three-legged frogs are hard to find, but two-legged people are everywhere on the street." Then she added, "Don't worry about these. Think about it slowly. You can find more people and work together! The general direction cannot be changed. This is the principle. Specific details can be discussed."

"Yeah!" Huang Zhongchang nodded, "It seems there is still a lot to learn!"

"Live and learn." Shen Hui'e said to him with her bright eyes.

&*&

Huang Zhongchang's dark eyes flickered as he looked at his wife and said, "Is the number of acres of land you have in the name of the family or as an individual?"

"Then we have to calculate it carefully." Shen Hui'e looked at him with her deep and clear eyes and said, "I tend to be individual." She looked at him without blinking and said, "Both men and women have land."

"Cough cough..." Huang Zhongchang's pupils suddenly shrank when he heard this, and he started coughing in shock.

"Why are you so surprised?" Shen Hui'e looked at him unhappily and said, "Aren't women human beings?"

Huang Zhongchang stopped coughing, calmed down, moved his body, faced her and said, "No, there has been no land division since ancient times."

"The court allows the establishment of female households, and women can be generals." Shen Hui'e looked at him with eyes as big as copper bells and said, "Why can't women get a share of the land?" She snorted and said, "You are fighting in the front lines, who is farming the fields? Aren't they the elderly, the weak, the women and the children at home? Why are we only allowed to work like old oxen, plowing the land? Why don't you give us land?"

Shen Hui'e straightened up and looked at him and said, "The princesses of the imperial court have fiefs! Can't ordinary women get three or five acres? We women are not civilians!"

"Don't get excited, don't get excited." Huang Zhongchang swallowed and said, "Speak properly."

Shen Hui'e took a few deep breaths, calmed down her emotions and said, "Da Chong's grandfather went to the army, and Da Chong's grandmother took care of everything at home and outside, and raised you up. You can't be a person without a conscience and ignore the hard work of his grandmother."

"Uh..." Huang Zhongchang was embarrassed by her retort and couldn't say a word in defense. He had seen with his own eyes how hard his mother worked.

"Is my mother's name on our land deed?" Shen Hui'e asked, remembering it.

"I don't know!" Huang Zhongchang shook his head and said to them, facing their scrutinizing eyes, "I really don't know. I haven't even seen that thing."

"Even if he didn't, Dachong's grandmother had no merits but she worked hard! You can't just erase that!" Shen Hui'e looked at him with clear eyes without blinking.