Chapter 96 New Problems

Liu Fu never expected that these two could make such a commotion just by rolling around in bed in the forest.

Wherever the two giant machines passed, trees as thick as buckets were crushed, and their enormous bodies, as they rolled, turned large areas into vacuum zones.

Such a huge sound, like a house collapsing, quickly startled the birds in the forest, and the beasts fled in all directions like madmen. This continuous commotion naturally alerted the barbarians in the jungle.

Some barbarians, clad in animal skins and carrying stone spears and axes, and some even gripping sticks made of sharpened wood, slowly approached.

When these barbarians saw the two Vajras rolling on the ground from a distance, their eyes immediately filled with disbelief, and they began to mutter incoherently.

Soon, the barbarians who witnessed this scene came to their senses and immediately knelt down and kowtowed in the direction of King Kong, prostrating themselves on the ground while drawing symbols that no one else could understand with their hands and arms.

Those symbols are their worship of the ape totem, a ritual of their worship of "gods".

Having witnessed the "god" descend to earth, the local barbarians immediately ran back to inform their tribe.

After a fierce battle, the six and seven gorillas fought to their hearts' content.

When two people do this together, they both sweat profusely, which is extremely physically demanding.

Moreover, both of the King Kongs are over forty meters tall, and when they get to work, it's like two small mountains colliding with each other, consuming a lot of energy.

After expending a lot of energy, Xing Liu, the male who took the initiative, sat down heavily in the forest, panting.

Seven the gorilla comforted its partner from behind, grooming its fur.

About half an hour later, the messenger returned with an old, white-haired barbarian and a group of barbarians of all ages behind him. They knelt down before the two Vajra and began to worship them.

This time, the barbarians who came to pay their respects were not only wearing clothes made of animal hides, but some of them were even wearing silk and satin, and had crude gold jewelry on their heads, which made them look like people of high status among the barbarians.

When Xing Liu and Xing Qi realized that their actions had attracted the barbarians, they immediately stood up and began to wander around the barbarian dwellings nearby.

In just a short while, four or five thousand barbarians had gathered, and even more barbarians were rushing towards them.

After the two giant dogs had finished wandering around, they gestured to the barbarians, as Liu Fu had instructed, to leave the forest and head towards the nearby villages.

Then, on a flat area that had been prepared beforehand, Ma Liang and the others were waiting. As soon as the two Vajra returned, they sat on the ground and waited until all the barbarians had gathered near the flat area.

For the first time, Han Chinese and barbarian people had large-scale close contact.

Some of the barbarians had fierce glints in their eyes, but most of them seemed to intend to leave each other alone, instead showing signs of unease and preparing to return to the mountains and forests.

But then Xing Liu let out a low growl and waved to the barbarians in the mountains.

The uneasy barbarians immediately stopped and continued to worship the two Vajras. At the Vajras' repeated waving gestures, the barbarians, despite their reluctance, came out and approached the Vajras.

In the eyes of the barbarians, although they were unwilling to face the Han people, their own tribe's gods were all in this place, and they lived peacefully with the Han people, so what was there to be afraid of?

At this moment, Liu Fu was also carrying several hundred kilograms of bananas, giving a bundle to each of Xing Liu and Xing Qi, and telling them to eat them.

When they saw Xing Liu and Xing Qi reach out to Liu Fu for bananas and then happily eat them, the barbarians became excited and curiously looked at the Han people in front of them. At the same time, Liu Fu produced a large number of bananas and gave them to Jin Gang, who then threw the bananas to the barbarians.

Liaodong is a harsh and cold place, and they had never seen this thing before. Now, they saw that the god they believed in had thrown such a thing over to them, and that they were eating it with great relish.

Since it was a gift from the gods, the barbarians immediately began to eat it.

And it turned out to be really good!

More and more barbarians were getting excited. At the same time, Ma Liang brought out some cooked delicacies and gave several portions to the two King Kongs.

Seeing King Kong enjoying his roasted meat so much, the barbarians' mouths watered immediately, and they soon gathered around him.

Just then, Ma Liang approached and spoke in fairly fluent Mandarin. After a few words, they immediately became acquainted.

With the delicious food cooked together, the Han people and the barbarians gathered together, and late at night they even started dancing around the bonfire...

"My lord, with General Wang and I here, we will soon be able to return to you a stable and peaceful barbarian tribe. It should only be a matter of time before these barbarians are assimilated into Han culture."

As he spoke, Ma Liang began to teach the barbarians how to buy things with money.

He took a plate of roast chicken and pointed to the gold ring on the barbarian chief's finger.

The barbarian chieftain, thinking that the gold ring was to be exchanged for food, immediately agreed and took off the gold ring, handing it to Ma Liang.

But Ma Liang waved his hand, took out over a hundred strings of copper coins, enough to be worth the price of a gold ring, and handed them to the barbarian in exchange for the gold ring.

Afterwards, Ma Liang took thirty coins from the barbarian leader and handed him the plate of roast chicken.

The barbarian chieftain quickly learned to buy things with copper coins, and once the barbarian chieftain learned this, the other barbarians soon followed suit.

Seeing Ma Liang's demonstration, Liu Fu knew that everything else would be fine.

Liu Fu handed the two Vajra beasts to Ma Liang. Ma Liang had worked with Zhuge Liang for many years and received much guidance from him. Some water conservancy projects were also put on the agenda. While having the Vajra beasts help with the work, they could also intimidate these barbarians.

Ma Liang and Wang Ping promoted Sinicization in the Liaodong Mountains, and more and more barbarians came out of the mountains to interact with the Han people.

Zhuge Liang spearheaded the construction of large reservoirs throughout the entire fiefdom, followed by the construction of irrigation canals.

Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui urged the people to grow sweet potatoes and potatoes, while Bao Zheng, Di Renjie, and Song Ci continuously cleared up unjust and unsolved cases, bringing justice to the innocent.

Xun Yu temporarily took charge of the court, while Wei Zheng and Hai Rui searched far and wide for evidence to impeach corrupt officials.

Xiao He personally went to the countryside to count the land area and the number of people, and everything was proceeding in an orderly manner.

But gradually, a problem arose.

Potato seeds and sweet potatoes were available, but the land was in the hands of wealthy and powerful families. These families were unwilling to rent the land to the common people for cultivation. The common people had no land, so even if they were given seeds, they couldn't grow them!

Liu Fu encountered the same problem that his elder brothers had encountered. According to the rules of the previous dynasty, those with merits and those who served as officials in the court paid very low taxes, and those with great merits did not have to pay taxes at all.

However, these people who do not have to pay taxes have seized the land of the common people. They own tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of acres of land without paying taxes. These wealthy and powerful families have occupied almost 80 percent of the land in Liaodong, but they do not have to pay taxes. This means that the Liaodong court can only collect 20 percent of the taxes under normal circumstances in a year.

At this moment, Liu Fu was furious!