In the first month of the fifth year of the Apocalypse, the imperial court officially ordered the establishment of a separate Department of Proclamation and Envoys in Liaodong, a Department of Prosecutions and Prosecutions, and a Department of Command and Envoys.
With the establishment of three separate divisions in Liaodong, it also means that Liaodong has established an independent province.
However, the Xuancheng Envoy Department was only ostensibly subordinate to the six central ministries. In fact, taxes in Liaodong were collected solely by the Xuezheng Envoy Department and were no longer handed over to the Ministry of Household Affairs.
At the same time, the imperial court was no longer responsible for the salaries, grain, and ordnance of the 90,000 Liaodong frontier troops. The military salaries in Liaodong Town were all distributed by the Liaodong Proclamation Department.
The Liaodong Economic Strategy was revoked, and Li Xianzhong, the Duke of Liao, was appointed as the commander of the Liaodong capital.
Yan Mingtai, governor of Jiliao, was renamed governor of Liaodong!
The whole country was in an uproar as soon as the news came out.
In this way, all the central government can actually manage is the Sentencing and Prosecution Department, which can only manage the prisons in Liaodong.
In fact, the military and political power in Liaodong has fallen into the hands of Li Xianzhong, the Duke of Liao.
Liaodong was equivalent to becoming a vassal town in the Ming Dynasty.
It is even more independent than Yunnan. After all, although the three divisions in Yunnan are secretly controlled by the Mu family, Duke of Guizhou, they are still all controlled by the imperial court on the surface.
Of course, the effect is also obvious. The imperial court finally got rid of the "big burden" of Liaodong and became much more financially comfortable.
The happiest person was naturally Tian Ji, the Minister of Household Affairs. Not only did he save nearly 3 million taels of food expenditure every year, but he also received copper mines worth 600,000 taels from Liaodong.
If every border town could be like Liaodong, the Ming Dynasty's treasury would soon be filled with money.
Although many imperial censors have written letters, this move is ancestral and is likely to trigger "rebellion in feudal towns" in the future.
However, everyone from Emperor Tianqi Zhu Youxiao to the Cabinet Secretary and Rite Supervisor acquiesced in this result.
Among the six departments, only the Ministry of Rites opposed it, while the other five were in favor.
It is very simple that the military expenditures of Liaodong Town can be divided among other ministries, which is beneficial to all ministries.
As for the harm, that is something in the future. At least this will help Ming solve the immediate crisis.
After all, in the eyes of most people, Liao Guogong's move was not a wise move.
The Ming Dynasty used all the strength of the country to support Liaodong, but it was so difficult?
The Duke of Liao used a corner of Liaodong to support Liao, which was a bit too much.
I'm afraid Li Xianzhong is using his private property to fill the hole in Liaodong.
This is equivalent to him filling holes for Ming Dynasty.
Even if Li Xianzhong's family has a great cause, it may not be able to support the 100,000 troops in Liaodong for a long time.
If it levies excessive taxes on the people of Liaodong, it will lose the support of the people sooner or later, and it will be difficult to achieve anything in the end.
In the end, he could only reduce Liaodong's troops on his own, and it would not pose much of a threat to Ming Dynasty in any case!
And Zhu Youxiao, who had money, began to work hard and prepare for a big fight.
The elites of the Nine Borders were among the most important. Soon Zhu Youxiao ordered to make up for last year's border army's salary arrears, which stabilized the military morale of each town.
As for the Beijing camp, Zhu Youxiao also made requests to Zhang Weixian and Zhu Chunchen.
After the actual strength of the three major battalions of the capital was expanded to 90,000, he would pay them in full.
In the end, the two had no choice but to order happily.
After all, if they expand to 90,000, they can still eat 50,000 in free wages.
But if we continue to pay only half of the salary, it is equivalent to only being able to feed 15,000 people.
However, the finances of the Ming Dynasty were still not optimistic. Although the drought in the Central Plains was alleviated last year, floods were raging.
The Yellow River burst its banks, turning the once prosperous Xuzhou area into a marsh, and the city of Xuzhou is still soaked by floods.
In addition to Xuzhou, floods are also frequent in the Jiangnan region, and millions of taels of silver are needed to repair rivers and build embankments.
Shaanxi is still experiencing severe drought. The continuous severe drought has caused several small-scale peasant uprisings to break out in Shaanxi.
But if it continues like this, it may cause big disasters.
Fortunately, the White Lotus Rebellion in the Central Plains has now been brought under control.
The rebels in Henan have been basically eliminated, and only a few bandits fled into the mountains. However, Wang Xifan of Yanzhou still had tens of thousands of troops.
Although Zuo Liangyu led the Yulin Battalion to regain Yuncheng and Juye County occupied by the rebels, the rebels were still entrenched in the Anshan Lake area between Yuncheng and Dongping Prefecture.
This is the Shuibo Liangshan Mountain in "Water Margin".
Although the water area in the late Ming Dynasty was not as large as that in the Song Dynasty, the terrain was still quite complex.
Zuo Liangyu sent troops several times but failed to find the bandit's lair. On the contrary, he lost many soldiers and horses.
He soon realized that this group of bandits was difficult to deal with, so he simply stationed in Yuncheng to confront Wang Xifan for a long time.
Zuo Liangyu knew very well that the extermination of the White Lotus Sect was a good opportunity for him to further stand out.
Mr. Sun Ge repeatedly reminded himself that the Yulin camp was the emperor's personal army. He represented the emperor this time and must not make any mistakes.
When he faced the White Lotus Sect rebels from Zhili and Henan, he almost didn't put much effort into it. The cavalry almost turned into birds and beasts when they charged against them.
But the thieves in Yanzhou Prefecture are completely different.
Although their outer church members were also vulnerable, it was obvious that they had an elite old battalion.
These bandits from the old camp not only have superb riding skills, they even have heavy cloth armor and Rumi guns.
His own Yulin camp couldn't take any advantage against them.
However, when it comes to suppressing bandits, the government and army always attack them when they are easy to fight, and recruit those who are really difficult to deal with.
Although Wang Xifan calls himself King of Hejian, he has not proclaimed himself emperor after all, so the court can still recruit him.
Zuo Liangyu was still very good at sneaking into the camp. He did not rashly write to Zhu Youxiao to ask for recruitment. Instead, he told Sun Chengzong, who had helped him, about the situation.
Nowadays, Sun Chengzong's status is not ordinary. At the beginning of the year, Emperor Tianqi Zhu Youxiao asked Xiong Tingbi, the Minister of the Ministry of War, to be the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment.
Sun Chengzong was directly appointed as Minister of War, and he was promoted to the position of Second Assistant to the Cabinet. The military and horses of the Ming Dynasty were in the hands of Sun Ge veteran.
Sun Chengzong quickly heard the implication of Zuo Liangyu, fearing that he was not sure about dealing with this group of White Lotus sect members.
There are a total of 30,000 people in the Yulin Camp. This time Zuo Liangyu took away 20,000 of them, including all the cavalry.
He did not ask for more troops, but gave up the opportunity to completely eliminate the bandits and directly suggested recruiting troops, which shows the seriousness of the problem.
However, recruitment is not that easy. His Majesty currently has high hopes for the Yulin camp, so he decided to test Zhu Youxiao's tone first.
Sun Chengzong received Zhu Youxiao's token and could freely enter the palace at any time, so he did not need to look at Wei Zhongxian's face when he came to see His Majesty.
As soon as he entered the palace today, he felt that the atmosphere in the palace was a little unusual, and everyone was beaming with joy.
After asking around, I found out that Concubine Rong was pregnant.
Originally, it was a happy thing for a concubine in the harem to be pregnant with a dragon heir.
However, Sun Chengzong was a little unhappy, because this Concubine Rong, Ren, was presented to His Majesty by Wei Zhongxian. It is said that she is Wei Zhongxian's grandniece.
His Majesty has finally become a little alienated from Wei Eunuch. If Concubine Ren Rong gives birth to a prince, I am afraid Wei Zhongxian will continue to be favored.
After entering Qianqing Palace, Sun Chengzong immediately congratulated Concubine Rong on her happiness.
Zhu Youxiao has been on the throne for the fifth year now. Although he is still young, his health has deteriorated.
This time, a concubine was pregnant again, and he was naturally very happy.
Sun Chengzong thought that His Majesty was in a good mood today, and it seemed that he had really chosen the right time.
But just as he was about to talk about recruiting the White Lotus Sect, he saw Wei Zhongxian walking in in a hurry.
Wei Zhongxian glanced at Sun Chengzong.
However, Zhu Youxiao said: "It won't be a problem if Sun Ge is here, but it doesn't matter!"
Wei Zhongxian said: "Your Majesty, something bad happened. The Duke of Liao's wife, Haqiya, and her two young masters were attacked by thieves when they were playing near Shichahai."
"The thieves once kidnapped the two sons of the Duke of Liao, but fortunately, the spies from Dongchang and the guards of the Duke of Liao's mansion appeared in time, and finally saved the day and rescued the two sons safely."
Zhu Youxiao said: "These thieves came unexpectedly, but have they found out their identities?"
To be honest, Zhu Youxiao's first reaction was that Li Xianzhong hired someone to do this attack.
But after all, he couldn't speak so straightforwardly in front of Sun Chengzong.
Nowadays, the relationship between the imperial court and Li Xianzhong is so tense. Naturally, his family members in the capital were under strict supervision. Although they could not be placed under house arrest, it was impossible for them to return to Liaodong.
Especially his wife Hazia and his two legitimate sons.
Wei Zhongxian said: "After being severely tortured by Dongchang, these people claimed to have been guided by Wusheng Old Mother to seek revenge on the Duke of Liao."
"White Lotus Sect?" Zhu Youxiao said with some confusion.
Wei Zhongxian said: "Your Majesty, these people are the subordinates of Yanzhou White Lotus Sect King Xifan. They say they want to avenge Xu Hongru, the White Lotus Sect rebel who was killed by Lingchi!"
"Their target is not only the family of Duke Liao, but also His Majesty and the Queen. The servants have followed the clues and uncovered several remnants of the White Lotus Sect lurking in the palace."
Zhu Youxiao's veins popped out and he asked angrily: "Mr. Sun Ge, what's going on with Zuo Liangyu? Hasn't the White Lotus Sect in Yanzhou been completely wiped out?"
Sun Chengzong knew that Zhaoan was completely out of luck now.
He said: "Your Majesty, the Yulin Camp has defeated the main force of the White Lotus Sect in Yanzhou, and now all the counties occupied by the rebels have been recovered."
"It's just that these rebels are now broken into pieces and hiding in Shuibo Liangshan. For a while, Zuo Liangyu will not be able to completely wipe them out."
Zhu Youxiao's expression softened slightly and he said: "It was the Duke of Liao who failed to completely eliminate these remnants of the White Lotus Sect a few years ago, which led to their resurgence now."
"Mr. Sun Ge, as the Minister of the Ministry of War, you should mobilize soldiers and horses from several surrounding provinces to assist Zuo Liangyu in encircling and suppressing these bandits. Remember to do your best to eliminate evil!"
Then he said to Wei Zhongxian: "Now that the remnants of the White Lotus Sect are very rampant, Duke Wei must send more manpower to protect the Duke of Liao's mansion. Also tell the Duke's wife, don't go out when you have nothing to do recently!"
Wei Zhongxian and Sun Chengzong were ordered to retire respectively.
On the dock of Tianjin Wei, Deputy Commander of the Intelligence Department Shi Junjie said: "Commander Mao, the two young masters have boarded the ship safely."
There were too many spies from the East Factory inside and outside the Duke of Liao's palace in the capital, as well as the court's informants, so Mao Yuanyi had to arrange this attack so that he could take this opportunity to replace Li Xianzhong's two legitimate sons with prepared substitutes.
At present, Li Xianzhong already has 4 children, but Li Weiruo, the eldest daughter born to Haqiya, and Li Yaozu, the third son born to Hailanzhu, have been transferred to Liaodong before.
The intelligence department's disguise skills are not yet mastered, and Hazia is a foreign beauty, so it is difficult to find a substitute for her.
Therefore, he had no choice but to keep the Duke's wife in the capital as a hostage.
Under the current situation, Liaodong and the imperial court may turn against each other at any time, so some of the property and treatment of the Intelligence Department in the capital had to be transferred to Liaodong.
Mao Yuanyi said: "Deputy Envoy Shi, the heaven and earth of the capital will be left to you. You must protect the Duke's wife. If there is any news in the capital, especially the palace, report it to Liaodong as soon as possible!"
"Have the batches of cement and Lumi guns that Yanzhou needs been sent?"
Shi Junjie said: "Commander, don't worry, I understand my humble position. That batch of supplies went through the canal, in the name of Nanjing garrison, and has been in the hands of the rebels!"
"In addition, we have 200,000 acres of farmland in Yanzhou. Whether it is money or food, we can supply Wang Xifan's rebel army nearby without any problems."
In addition to being the commander of the Intelligence Department, Mao Yuanyi was also appointed by Li Xianzhong as the inspector of Liaodong. Naturally, she wanted to return to Liaodong as soon as possible.
Liaodong finally no longer needs to be controlled too much by the court, and Li Xianzhong can also do some things freely.
He made Fan Wencheng, who was a scholar, a veritable chief envoy of Liaodong.
The first thing to do is to reform the tax system. The head tax will be abolished in Liaodong and replaced by "one person is divided into one mu".
In this way, people can have as many children as possible according to their own conditions, which is conducive to rapid population growth and also solves the problem of hiding the population.
Secondly, cancel all kinds of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes.
The taxes in Liaodong only include four categories: business tax, agricultural tax, deed tax, and customs duty.
The deed tax is relatively simple. Whether it is a house deed, land deed, or land deed, as long as the transaction involves a change in the contract, a production fee of 50 yuan and a tax of 3% of the transaction amount must be paid.
However, there are additional provisions for land deeds. If the buyer owns more than 1,000 acres of land in Liaodong, the tax rate will rise to 100%; if it exceeds 10,000 acres, it will become 300%.
This prevents those landowners from continuing to annex land on the existing basis.
The normal rate of agricultural tax is 3 out of 10. In order to reduce the burden on the people, agricultural tax is paid in kind.
The policy of "one exemption and two half" is implemented for wasteland development, that is, the first year of developing wasteland is tax-free, and the second two years are tax-free. After three years of paying taxes, the government will issue free land deeds to these fields.
In Liaodong, "gentry and gentry pay grain as one body" was implemented. Starting from Li Xianzhong, the Duke of Liao, everyone paid land tax on their fields.
Only soldiers who have sacrificed their lives for the country or are disabled can enjoy certain reductions and exemptions.
The tariff is the tariff collected by the Municipal Shipping Department and the land gateway.
It is divided into exit and entry.
The tax rate for Tongdong Ryukyu Company, a merchant in Liaodong, is 1% for every 7 goods sold, and 2% for every 10 goods for others.
Foreign merchant ships are taxed according to the tax rate signed with them, and they can choose to pay in kind or in gold and silver according to the market price.
Business tax is levied based on turnover.
For example, the horse market is a temporary transaction and is subject to the same tax.
Others levy taxes based on industry.
The tax rate for people's livelihood items is relatively low. For example, the minimum tax rate for daily necessities and food sales is 5%.
20% for restaurants, jewelry and luxury goods stores
For profiteering industries such as brothels and pawn shops, the rate is 30%
Officials at all levels implement a system of annual salary + bonus.
The annual salary is three times the official salary of the Ming Dynasty.
As for bonuses, they are distributed based on local tax revenue. The more taxes, the greater the rewards.
Customs duties are not local taxes and are directly under the Liaodong Chief Envoy Department.
At present, Liaodong's tariffs still account for the bulk of its revenue.
As for corvee, Li Xianzhong actually wanted to cancel it.
After all, there are now more than 100,000 North Korean workers in Liaodong, and they can be sent to work.
However, in order to increase the enthusiasm of North Korean workers, Li Xianzhong has announced that as long as North Korean workers work seriously in Liaodong for 5 years, they can get rid of their status as workers and become common people of Liaodong.
In addition, Liaodong is currently facing a lot of waste, and the government does need a lot of free labor.
Therefore, corvee service will not be abolished for the time being.
However, the preferential policy of exemption from corvee for gentry and military households was still retained.
After all, we still need to give the gentry a sense of superiority. They have already been asked to pay land tax, and if they are sent to do corvee service, they may really have to resist.
However, he stipulated that local governments should distribute corvees as needed, considering that the people's enthusiasm for corvee work was always low.
For the people who can complete the corvee target, the government will provide rations; for the people who exceed the target, the government will give a certain amount of money as a reward.
The natural next step is to resume the imperial examinations and reopen the college examinations, county examinations and township examinations.
Although the formal provincial examination of the imperial court should have been completed last year, Liaodong was just to select officials for itself.
It is not to provide talents to the imperial court.
Therefore, in addition to the Four Books and Five Classics, the content of policy theory was added to the final rural examination.
Those who obtained the qualification to be a scholar in Liaodong could serve as officials in various counties, and those who obtained the qualification to be promoted to provincial level units could serve as officials in provincial units.
Li Xianzhong must now reserve some civilian officials. Nowadays, in overseas places such as Korea, Ryukyu, and Taiwan, most military generals also serve as local governors. This will definitely not work in the long run.
After this series of reforms, in April of the fifth year of Tianqi, the governor's office of Liaodong re-calculated the population of Liaodong.
At present, Liaodong has a total population of more than 3.58 million people plus 120,000 North Korean workers, suddenly adding hundreds of thousands of people.
At this time, there were 90,000 army troops stationed in Liaodong, 20,000 troops of the Imperial Alliance Army of the Korean Left Guard, 8,000 troops of the Ming Dynasty stationed in North Korea, 3,000 troops of Ryukyu troops, and 5,000 troops of Taiwan troops.
The Liaodong Navy has a total of 8,000 people (including the former Korean Navy), and the Eastern Ryukyu Fleet has a total of 10,000 people.
Li Xianzhong had a total of 126,000 army troops and 18,000 naval troops at his disposal.
Fan Wencheng said: "In the fourth year of the Apocalypse, the overall income of Liaodong was 7.58 million taels, the expenditure was 5.73 million taels, and the total treasury silver was 6.85 million taels. Taiwan alone sent 1.3 million shi of grain to Liaodong, and now the rice in stock is as high as 2.5 million taels. Ten Thousand Stones.”
"This food reserve is enough to support a 100,000-strong army for two years of conquest."
Everyone was very confident after hearing this!
Li Sanshun said: "With our elite soldiers in Liao Town, it is not a problem to capture the capital. As long as the Duke of Liao gives the order, I guarantee that the capital will be captured in less than one month, and the entire Hebei can be controlled in three months at most."
Hearing what Li Sanshun said, the important generals asked for battle one after another. Mao Wenlong even said: "The last general can capture the capital with only 10,000 troops!"
At this time, Yan Mingtai was a little frowning.
Li Xianzhong said: "All the generals think that we are strong enough to compete with the imperial court. I wonder what Governor Yan thinks?"
In fact, Yan Ming was also very worried that Li Xianzhong would become hot-headed and directly launch an army to rebel.
At this time, he had to pour cold water on everyone. He said: "I am reporting to the Duke of Liao. I think this is not the time for us to take action."
"First of all, the Ming Dynasty is the orthodoxy of the world, and the emperor has not lost his virtue. We can't find a good excuse for raising troops to rebel against the Ming Dynasty. Once we become rebels, we will encounter desperate resistance from the scholars and people of the world. It will be difficult for us to conquer the world. It will be much tougher."
"Secondly, although the current situation in Liaodong is good, our reforms have only just been implemented and are not stable. If the main force leaves the border and goes south, Liaodong will inevitably be unstable. Once the rear is unstable, it may affect the war in the front!"
"Again. I'm afraid you generals have overlooked a problem. Although the elites under your command are powerful, our army's muskets and artillery now require a large amount of ammunition supplies. Even the Rumi muskets in the hands of soldiers need to be replaced after being used for a long time. I After all, Liaodong is a small country with great potential. If we face a steady stream of Qin Wang’s troops from all over the Ming Dynasty, can our ammunition reserves last for so long?”
"If you lose the supply of ammunition, are you still sure to face the Ming Dynasty's million-strong army?"
"So I believe that it is not appropriate to act rashly at this time. We still need to stabilize the rear and accumulate strength. The most important thing is to wait for a suitable opportunity to send troops, so that we can succeed in one fell swoop!"
Li Xianzhong said: "I completely agree with what Governor Yan said!"
"Although the Ming Dynasty is in terrible condition internally, it has not yet reached a state of complete decay. If we forcefully send out troops at this time, it will be like a rebellion. Not many people will respond to us. Even if we can temporarily capture the capital by force, it will be difficult to quickly control the situation across the country. "
Li Sanshun sighed and said: "Everyone understands what the Duke of Liao and Governor Yan said, but since the Tatars were wiped out, the brothers have not fought for a long time. How about I dress up as a bandit and go to Yanzhou to support Wang Xifan. Then I will use it. As a rogue bandit, he broke into the capital. Then the Duke of Liao sent his army south to serve the king. Isn't that justifiable?"
After Li Sanshun finished speaking, everyone fell into deep thought.
Mao Wenlong first said: "General Li's method is good. As long as the world is in chaos, we can fish in troubled waters!"
Even Yan Mingtai said: "This method is actually feasible, but it can't be done too obviously. After all, people in the world are not fools!"
Li Xianzhong didn't expect that even Brother Yan, who had always been the calmest, would be tempted.
But we can't blame them. After all, they are not time travellers, unlike Li Xianzhong who can foresee the future.
Li Xianzhong said: "Commander Mao, besides the White Lotus Sect in Yanzhou, where else did the Intelligence Department instigate an uprising?"
Mao Yuanyi said: "Shaanxi has suffered from drought for several years. Under the instigation of the Intelligence Department, several small-scale uprisings have broken out. The people there are strong and strong. We will soon have bigger actions."
Li Xianzhong nodded with satisfaction and said: "Everyone, please prepare your own troops. Once the world is in chaos, it will be time for us to come out and seize the world!"
Everyone said one after another: "The last general (lower official) takes the order!"
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(End of chapter)
