"Uncle, I heard that there is a war here, but I saw that the city was very lively and there was no nervous atmosphere at all. Is this news fake?"

Li Xun walked to a stall selling sesame cakes and asked the stall owner.

The stall owner was an old man around seventy. He looked at Li Xun, but ignored him, lowered his head and continued to make his own pancake.

Li Xun specially wore casual clothes, and his identity was not visible.

"you...."

Qi Dafu was a little angry and was about to come forward to argue, but Li Xun reached out to stop him.

"Old man, I want to buy sesame cakes."

"How many? Meat stuffing, or radish, cabbage, pure noodles..."

When the old man heard that Li Xun wanted to buy sesame cakes, he raised his head and responded with a voice.

Li Xun smiled and said, "The most expensive one."

The old man said, "It happened that there was beef sold in the government yesterday. I bought some, here..."

A cow cannot be slaughtered. Killing is illegal. The punishment is equivalent to the money of a cow. If you don’t have money, you will go to labor. Only if you die of illness or an accident can the cow be sold. It must also be filed with the government for filing, paying taxes, and the government will sell it.

Before the old man could finish introducing the introduction, Li Xun said directly: "I want a hundred beef stuffed with it."

One hundred? That would cost about two taels of silver. This is not a small amount of money. Of course, for the old man, two taels of silver is indeed not a small amount of money. He worked hard for a month to earn it.

Seeing the old man's face hesitant look, Li Xun smiled and touched him in his arms, but found that he had not brought any money. Then he asked Qi Dafu behind him for money. Qi Dafu took out two taels of broken silver and handed it to Li Xun.

"People may lie, but they won't."

Li Xun put the silver on the stall.

The old man picked up the silver and weighed it. The portion was definitely two taels, only a little more or less.

"Young Master, wait a moment. I will start making baked cakes for you now. It won't take long."

The old man smiled and put away his money, and his attitude towards Li Xun changed greatly.

If you have money, you are the master!

"No hurry, old man, do it slowly, I'm not in a hurry."

A beef pancake costs twenty cents, which is not cheap for ordinary people. The old man who sells pancakes can't sell many beef pancakes a day, so it is impossible for him to make them first and put them there. After a long time, it will be cold and it will not be delicious, so he can only make them and sell them on the spot.

Li Xun asked, "Old man, I heard that there is a war here, and I don't know if it is true or false?"

"Young Master, judging from your appearance, you are here to do business, right?"

The other party bought his own 100 pancakes, which was a distinguished guest. Now that he is asking questions, the old man will naturally not ignore them.

Li Xun nodded and said, "I am indeed here to do business and do big business."

The old man said, "Then I advise you not to leave the city recently. The fight will begin soon."

Li Xun said: "But I don't think the atmosphere in the city is like a war."

The old man laughed and said, "You hit me today, and I hit you tomorrow. We have been used to it for a long time. They hit theirs, and we have passed ours, and there is nothing to make a fuss about."

Li Xun smiled and said, "The old man doesn't seem to be afraid of war."

"What's there to be afraid of?"

The old man sighed and said, "Since I can remember, wars in Hebei are so common. I have lived a long and peaceful life in the past twenty or thirty years. Now that the emperor has changed, Hebei is in chaos again. Alas, life is not easy."

Li Xun said: "I heard that the court sent a lot of troops to Hebei this time."

"The current defenders in Bozhou are the army of the court. It is the first time I have seen the army of the court for so many years, and it is also new."

"When the imperial army comes, the lives of the people may become better."

After hearing Li Xun's words, the old man sneered: "What's good about it? If Bozhou belongs to the court, will we not have to pay taxes?"

The old man's words immediately aroused Li Xun's curiosity. He asked in confusion: "Does the vassal states control you and don't have to collect taxes?"

"That must be paid taxes, but many military governors..."

The old man then said this to Li Xun. The war broke out between the two vassal governors. On his side, if they win, the governors would often reduce, or even directly reduce the taxes of their own prefectures and counties. The reason is very simple. War wealth is the greatest wealth, which comes quickly and is large. As long as the war is won, the wealth that can be obtained is definitely huge. Since you have money, those poor prefectures and counties that cannot collect much taxes will often directly exempt them from their annual taxes in order to win people's hearts. For example, Bozhou is a famous poor land in Hebei. It has a small population and has little land to cultivate. The annual tax is only about 100,000 taels of silver. After winning the war, you have money. If you have such a little tax, the governor will be exempted directly.

If the city is defeated, the city is occupied, and the victorious governor will definitely carry out a certain degree of robbery and plunder wealth, but the target is by no means ordinary people, but local tyrants and landlords who have deep connection with the original forces. They are the main targets of being cleansed and robbed, because they are both enemies and money.

So there is a very strange phenomenon in Hebei. If the governors of the two sides win, whoever defeats the city will be occupied, the people will not suffer any consequences, and those who suffer will be those big families.

For example, this old man who sold sesame cakes was still very chaotic when he was young. Bozhou changed hands several times, but no matter who made the decision, it was not difficult for ordinary people like them. So in the face of war, the people in Bozhou were very calm and felt that it was nothing big.

And there is another phenomenon in Hebei, that is, the exemption from crime.

When a city is captured and the owner is replaced, the main landlords and families in the city will unite to gather a large amount of money and take the initiative to contribute to the winners, seeking self-protection.

Therefore, when a Jiedushi defeats the place and occupys the city, he does not have to do anything and will immediately get a sum of money from the guest officials, and his goal is achieved. In this way, what reason does he have to rob the soldiers?

No need at all.

Li Xun talked with the old man selling sesame cakes for a long time, and through the conversation, he gained a certain understanding of the land of Hebei.

Afterwards, Li Xun told the old man to do it slowly, and wander around and come back in half an hour to get the sesame cake.

"Sir, it seems that the people of Hebei are very indifferent to the court."

Qi Dafu said.

Li Xun shook his head and said in a low voice: "What the people want is nothing more than three meals a day and having enough food and clothing. Whoever can do this will be their hearts facing. If you can't do it, he will care that you are the king of heaven."

Li Xun was also from a poor family, and he knew the bottom line and thoughts of the people.
Chapter completed!