The battle outside the Wanhu Mansion of the garrison army was destined to be a suspenseless massacre. Under the continuous volley of muskets, the Mongolian Yuan soldiers fell in rows and could not rush in front of the Song army. And they still rushed up again and again in despair, except for just showing their determination to die and their contempt for the Song army, it was meaningless.

After several assaults, Shi Yong, who led the team to charge, was shot dead, and personally led the remaining troops to charge. However, he only ran dozens of steps forward and was shot to death in front of the formation. Blood was like a spring in the bullet hole in his chest. The heavy armor given to him by the Great Sweat failed to block the bullets fired by the musket. The swords in his hand were smashed to pieces, and only his wide eyes seemed to reveal the unwillingness in his heart.

After Shi Bi was shot dead, the remaining enemies no longer had the fighting spirit and surrendered. At this point, all the large-scale resistance in Xiangyang City ended, and the troops turned to search for scattered soldiers and valiants and cleared the battlefield, which also marked the end of the battle with the complete victory of the Song army. In order to ensure the safety of the emperor and the camp, after the battle was basically over, they drove across the river and moved to Fancheng, which made Zhao Bing regret that he failed to get into the city.

After working hard for several days, the task was completed, which made Zhao Bing's tense nerves relax and he could sleep well. The next day, it was already midnight when he woke up. He finished washing and used breakfast, and Chen Shishi delivered the battle report.

During the Battle of Xiang, the Song army suffered more than 3,000 casualties, most of which were killed at the city at the beginning of the siege. However, the results of the battle were also brilliant. According to preliminary statistics, a total of more than 20,000 enemy troops were killed and 40,000 enemy troops were captured. The battle was killed below Shi Bi, the general manager of the Xiangyang army, more than 300 officials of more than 100 households, and more than 400 officials of all sizes were captured. The weapons and armor were seized, 300,000 stones of grain, 100,000 silk, silk, silk, and 150,000 stagnants of gold and silver were not counted here.

The people in the city suffered heavy casualties, with more than 10,000 bodies collected, and many of them washed away by the river, unable to count them. More than 700 houses were destroyed, many shops were looted by chaos, and many people were left on the streets without food and clothing. In addition, there were wealthy families who fled out of the city, officials from the pseudo-King and tens of thousands of people who fled with them were in the wilderness, and urgently needed relief.

At present, Wang Xiang has organized local officials to release the results of the people to safeguard the people, relieve the victims in the city, and carry bodies to clean up the streets. Ni Liang also sent officers and soldiers to assist the people to build houses and prepare for the city defense. He also asked His Majesty to open warehouses and release grain, allocate funds to provide pensions to the people so that people can recover their livelihood as soon as possible. Zhao Bing approved the approval and ordered the enemy and puppets stranded in the city as soon as possible, and speed up the screening speed. Two days later, the city will be opened to allow the people to go out of the city to pick wood and enter the city to sell goods.

Then Chen Shishi submitted the emergency documents sent by the court recently. Zhao Bing sighed. He was the emperor who was a rare half-day leisure. He could only calm down and review and approve them one by one. It was not until the evening that Wang Yinglin, Ni Liang, Lin Zhiwu and others returned to the camp and came to see him and report, so he could have a brief rest and talk to them.

"Prince Wang, we must step up the handling of the aftermath. We must return to Beijing as soon as possible!" After hearing their report, Zhao Bing said to several people.

"Your Majesty, is there something important in the capital?" Wang Yinglin asked.

"You can first pass on these two official documents and see how to deal with them?" Zhao Bing pointed to the two official documents placed in the corner of the case and asked Wang De to give them.

"Your Majesty, some officials in the capital jointly submitted a letter to take advantage of the peace talks to welcome Emperor Feng Deyou back to the court, and wanted to use this as one of the conditions for peace talks. This... I'm afraid there is something wrong with it!" Wang Yinglin frowned after seeing it.

"Your Majesty, the gentry in Jiangnan opposes 'one-in-one tax payment' and resists the payment of autumn taxes. They have conflicts with the governments in many places. Now it is becoming increasingly fierce and affects many places. We must make a quick decision, otherwise there will be chaos!" Lin Zhiwu said urgently.

"Well, because the matter is serious, there are many officials in the court. Several prime ministers have many disputes. The Empress Dowager and Prime Minister Lu dare not make arbitrary decisions, for fear that they will change over time. Let me go back to the capital as soon as the war breaks out!" Zhao Bing nodded and said.

"What does Your Majesty want?" Wang Yinglin asked.

"I want to hear your opinions too!" Zhao Bing looked at the people hesitant, and thought about it and added, "This matter is related to the royal affairs, but also to the state affairs. Today, everyone can speak freely and don't have to worry. I swear to heaven and will never pursue it afterwards!"

"Your Majesty is so serious!" Wang De knelt down without waiting for His Majesty to swear, "I think I must not obey their requests and welcome Emperor Deyou back. That is an act of destruction of the country. Your Majesty must not agree!"

"I am very clear about your mood. Get up quickly, what kind of morality will it become!" Zhao Bing helped him up.

"Your Majesty, this matter is very difficult no matter what. They demanded that Emperor Feng Deyou be welcomed and all the name of righteousness. If Your Majesty refuses, he will be attacked by everyone, thinking that Your Majesty does not care about the brotherhood and the courtesy of the king and the ministers; if he agrees, those who are dissatisfied with Your Majesty in the court and the public will take the opportunity to attack and support Emperor Deyou be restored." Wang Yinglin pondered for a moment.

"The Song Dynasty is Your Majesty's Song Dynasty. If they want to seize the throne in chaos, they must first ask if the sword in my hand is happy and whether the millions of soldiers in the army agree!" Ni Liang snorted coldly and said angrily.

"There are some problems that can be solved by swords and guns, but are the problems of people's support. Your Majesty has been in power for more than ten years and saved the Song Dynasty in danger. All the officials and the people in the court saw it. It was not a few clowns' words that could be changed. Although Emperor Deyou succeeded to the throne, he bowed down to the Yuan Dynasty and accepted the imperial edicts of the fake dynasty, and was no longer worthy of being a king. Moreover, Your Majesty expelled Emperor Deyou from the clan in the name of Zongzheng in Qiongzhou and announced it to the world. None of the ministers in the court had raised any objections, so it was decided. Therefore, whether they were returning or not, they had lost the qualification to inherit the throne!" Lin Zhiwu said at this time.

"What the Cang Magistrate said is that Emperor Deyou has lost his righteousness and his clan name. His return to the country is just a commoner, so that he can block the vast mouths of the world." Chen Shishi said. He knew very well that not only himself, but also the entire family was integrated with Your Majesty. With one loss, Emperor Deyou must not be restored.

"After that being said, they wanted to welcome Emperor Deyou to the country, but in fact they were just the word "interest". They just wanted to use this to coerce Your Majesty in exchange for it to achieve their goals." Wang Yinglin said from the side.

"What Wang Xiang said is the right explanation!" Zhao Bing said, "What's wrong with me to promise Emperor Deyou and the captured royal family to return to the country? Do they just hope that an emperor who was once captured will take office and willing to inherit the throne by an emperor who is good at alien races. Only those who are willing to be ruled by alien races and become a slave who can't stand up to the backbone will have this idea. Can these people influence public opinion?"

"Your Majesty means to promise them!" Wang Yinglin asked tentatively.

"Promise them and I will draft an order to send it to the capital tonight." Zhao Bing said with a sneer.

"Your Majesty, are you too hasty?" Lin Zhiwu hesitated when he saw His Majesty so decisive.

"Hmph, I agree. They punched the space. At that time, it would be them, not us, who were in a difficult position!" Zhao Bing said with a chuckling.

"Your Majesty said it is right. It's like marching and fighting. Your Majesty in Yangzhou secretly sent a large army to Jiangnan, leaving a single army to siege the city, but the enemy did not dare to act rashly." Ni Liang continued.

"Yes, they thought that Your Majesty would never agree to this matter, so they could make trouble and incite public opinion. When Your Majesty agreed, all their backs were gone. And because this matter would inevitably be used by the enemy in peace talks, endangering the interests of our dynasty, and they would inevitably be condemned by knowledgeable people." Chen Shishi nodded and said that he was.

"Okay, I agree!" Wang Yinglin nodded.

"The implementation of 'integrated tax payment' is now blocked because of the integration of officials and gentry, so that they dare to fight against the court. And officials are also passive in implementing this method, and they retreat when they encounter setbacks, making it difficult to implement it." Lin Zhiwu was in the local area, so he naturally knew the truth.

"These evil gentry are not aware of the general matter, they are simply sucking the blood of the court and fertilizing their own body. What is the use of keeping them? Any tax-resistant person will just give up his fame and fortune first, and then don't pay the land collection, and you will no longer have to pay the land tax." Zhao Bing said.

"Your Majesty, the gentry is the foundation of our dynasty. They need their efforts to educate the people, inspire the wisdom of the people, and maintain the throne. Since our dynasty was established, we have treated them well and exempted them from land, tax, money and food. His Majesty suddenly cancelled it, and they were unable to accept it for a while, and it was inevitable that they would resist it!" Wang Yinglin thought about it and said.

"What the King said is inappropriate." Zhao Bing waved his hand, "When the Yuan Dynasty occupied Jiangnan, they seized their property, occupied their houses, performed labor service, and paid land taxes. How could they not resist? Now that I have led the troops to restore Jiangnan and returned the occupied land, they are not grateful. Instead, they use the status of officials and gentry to make money, causing taxes to be lost. What is the use of such evil gentry to keep them!"

Everyone was silent after hearing this, because they all understood that officials and gentry could enjoy the system of exemption from labor and taxes. Not only did officials and gentry not have to be a servant to pay grain, but their wives and children, slaves and maids, and even the land that was affiliated to his family did not have to pay taxes. That is to say, even if they were not an official and gentry, they would not have to be a servant to pay grain as a servant.

Of course, this is not a waste of money. It requires a fee to be paid to the officials and gentry. Although the fee is much lower than the court's taxes, it will make officials and gentry profitable. Just by placing a name, it will make officials and gentry make a fortune. Moreover, it is a "mutual benefit and win-win" between officials and gentry and civilians. Thus, the tax is transferred to other people, and the result is that the rich become richer, the poor will be poor, and the rich officials and gentry will be poor, and the rich emperor will be poor.

If such a situation is tolerated, it will inevitably become more and more serious, resulting in limited tax revenue, empty treasury, bankruptcy of self-cultivation farmers, and even the country has no money to manage rivers, no money to provide disaster relief, and no money to fight wars, which triggers conflicts between the government and the poor people. The emperor saw the crisis and knew that this incident would cause endless harm. In the new policy, it suddenly abolished the privilege of officials and gentry not to serve and pay food, and completely cut off the financial path of officials and gentry. Although it offended all officials and gentry, it would inevitably enrich the country's finances.
Chapter completed!