Jiankang, in the Manna Palace.
His Majesty the Emperor was sitting on the main seat, and a middle-aged man in a military attaché uniform knelt in the hall, bowing his head in salute.
"I am determined to live up to your majesty's high hopes. After arriving at the front line, I will drive away the barbarians for Da Chen and kill the enemy to serve the country!"
Emperor Hong De lowered his head, covered his mouth and coughed, then smiled and said: "This time, you will directly send the army to Guangping, accept the control of Marquis Jing'an, and be at his disposal."
At this point, the emperor paused and continued: "When you get to the north, don't lose face to the Fifth Army Camp, don't turn your nostrils to the sky, and fight honestly. This battle is very important to Da Chen and cannot be neglected. "
The general in front of him is one of the five commanders in charge of the fifth military camp. His surname is Wei Mingxiong.
Shen Yi asked the court for 50,000 forbidden troops as reinforcements, and Emperor Hong De agreed simply. A total of 60,000 forbidden troops were dispatched on this trip and handed over to the command of Wei Xiong to support the north.
It is worth mentioning that after the Forbidden Army mobilized its men to go north many times, the remaining people in the fifth barracks of the Forbidden Army are estimated to be only more than 70,000 people.
This is the most empty military force in Jiankang since the imperial court moved south. However, now that the political situation of the imperial court is stable, the Emperor's Spring and Autumn Period is in full swing, and the south is stable, there is no possibility of civil strife. Therefore, the emperor sends another 60,000 people out. No one objected too strongly.
After all, at this time, the people of Qi in the north have spent all their wealth to fight this war. Naturally, Chen Guo can no longer be petty.
And with Emperor Hongde's character, he absolutely could not tolerate the Northern Expedition falling short.
Because for him, this may be the only opportunity in his life.
For the sake of our late emperor and our ancestors.
It is his duty to recast Chen Rongguang!
In this case, if anyone in the court spoke against him, he would not hesitate to use thunderous means to suppress it.
Wei Xiong lowered his head and kowtowed: "I will obey the holy edict!"
The emperor smiled, looked at the prime ministers present, and said with a smile: "My lords, do you have anything else to say?"
Chen Jing thought for a while, then stood up, lowered his head and said: "Your Majesty, it is unquestionable to go north to support the Huai'an Army, but the Forbidden Army is the emperor's personal army. It is a matter of leadership. Shouldn't we be more cautious?"
"The old minister believes that General Wei should be allowed to cooperate with Shen Yi, instead of letting Shen Yi directly control General Wei."
There is nothing wrong with what Chen Jing said.
Because the Imperial Guard is relatively sensitive.
In normal times, the Jiankang Forbidden Army only numbers hundreds of thousands of people. When Pei Jun went north, he took away tens of thousands of the Forbidden Army. Now Wei Xiong went north and took away another 60,000 Forbidden Army.
If the two Forbidden Army commanders are all under the control of Shen Yi, that is to say, the nearly 100,000 Forbidden Army soldiers heading north now will all become Shen's subordinates.
You know, when they return to Jiankang in the future, they will still serve as forbidden troops.
Emperor Hong De thought for a while, shook his head slightly and said, "Let's forget it."
"At this time, everyone in the imperial court should be united and stop having small thoughts. When it's time to let Shen Yi take charge of the overall situation, we should delegate power to him and let him take charge of the overall situation."
Emperor Hong De and Shen Yi, apart from official matters, still have some personal feelings.
He knew the truth about employing without doubting others and distrusting others, and if Shen Yi really had any second thoughts at this time, with the power of the Huai'an army in his hands, it would be of no use to put a bridle on him.
On the contrary, it will hurt feelings.
It's better to simply delegate power and let him do it.
Chen Jing sighed slightly, bowed his head in salute, and said nothing more.
Several prime ministers talked to each other and discussed a lot of things about the north. When the discussion was almost done, the emperor stood up and said in a calm tone: "Then the matter is settled. General Wei will take over tomorrow morning." The troops are sent out to support the northern battlefield."
At this point, the emperor paused and said slowly: "Furthermore, because of the war this year, the national treasury is tight, and all the ministries and offices of the imperial court should be more frugal. I am here to give you a start."
He clasped his hands behind his back and said: "At the end of this year, when the household department calculates next year's expenses, there is no need to consider the expenses of the palace and the clan. This money..."
He said slowly: "I will consider it next year."
Several prime ministers looked at each other, a little surprised.
The imperial court has to allocate a large amount of money to the palace every year, and a large amount of money to the clan government, which provides expenses for the royal family members.
What the emperor meant by this was that in order to save money, he would not want this part of the money next year.
This is not a matter of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of taels of silver!
The palace's annual expenses are probably millions of taels, including the clan's...
This is an extremely huge expense.
However, in recent years, due to the large and medium-sized commercial banks, the Fuzhou Chamber of Commerce, and the income from Liulichang, His Majesty the Emperor's inner treasury can be said to have made a lot of money. The landlord's family has a lot of surplus food. From his inner treasury It is not a big problem to spend money to support the palace and the clan for a year.
What concerned several prime ministers was...
As the saying goes, if something is good at the top, it will be very bad at the bottom.
The emperor himself took the initiative to save money on food and clothing. No, it should be said that he didn't even need food and clothing. How could the officials below have the nerve to ask for it?
Will the salary be paid next year?
Once it’s distributed, how many people dare to ask for it?
Seeing the strange expressions of several prime ministers, the emperor waved his hands and said with a smile: "Don't be nervous, everyone. Next year, the court's salary will still be paid as it should be, but no more spending money will be allowed."
"And then there's that."
The emperor squinted his eyes and chuckled: "Since the beginning of this year, we have increased business taxes and reduced land taxes. They have been going on for a whole year. Please tell me, Prime Minister Zhao, what is the effect?"
Zhao Changping stood up. He first looked at several of his fellow prime ministers. After hesitating for a moment, he lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty, the effect is excellent. It can fill the vacancy of the land tax, and there is even some money left."
"but…"
Zhao Changping sighed and said: "But there are people below who do not follow the rules of the court. Some people directly break into the shops to collect money, and rob the things in the shops if they are not paid. The veteran has confronted Hu Shangshu of the Ministry of Justice. This year, Time, there have been more than 40 cases reported to the Ministry of Punishment due to business tax alone."
This is the consequence of the lack of underlying governance capabilities.
Since ancient times, the imperial power did not go to the countryside, and it was already very good to reach the county level. Therefore, the taxation work could only be distributed and handed over to the local squires to collect collections on their behalf. However, there are no rules for those powerful local squires. The imperial court has new tax items, so of course they will take advantage of this opportunity to collect and take more.
It is normal to force people to death.
Those reported to the Ministry of Punishment are only a very small part of them.
Emperor Hong De couldn't help but frown.
He originally wanted to take this opportunity to increase business taxes again.
The emperor rubbed his brows and said: "In this way, Prime Minister Zhao has discussed with the officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs in the past few days to see whether next year, the business tax collection should be handed over to the officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs. It’s not up to the local officials.”
Zhao Changping first lowered his head and agreed, then smiled bitterly and said: "Not to mention whether the Ministry of Revenue has so many people, even if it does, once these people leave Jiankang, they will no longer be themselves."
Emperor Hong De frowned again, and then said slowly: "No matter how hard it is, we have to survive these few years."
"Finish this battle."
"This battle is over."
His Majesty the Emperor whispered to himself: "Everything will be fine."
…………
Guangping City, Shen Yi's temporary residence.
Luo Yong stood in front of Shen Yi and bowed his head deeply: "Sizheng, the Northern Qi frontier army has gone all the way south to the vicinity of Taiyuan."
"They are approaching Zhending Mansion and Hejian Mansion."
"The nearest one is less than three hundred miles away from our army!"
Mr. Shen took a deep breath and asked, "Can the number of people be confirmed?"
Luo Yong looked solemn and said, "About 150,000 people."
Shen Yi nodded first, and after thinking for a while, he said: "Tell Xue Wei to enter Shanxi as soon as possible."
"Again, order Pei Jun."
Lord Shen narrowed his eyes.
"Let him end the war in Henan as soon as possible and prepare to go north."
Luo Yong lowered his head.
"My subordinates will do it now."
