Yang Ji has always believed that "when in his position, he must fulfill his responsibilities, and when he is not in his position, he will not pursue political affairs." Even though he was in his position, he often abandoned government affairs when he was in Liangzhou. Now that he has arrived in Xijing, Yang Ji does not take the vanished Shangshu Ling to heart, nor does he participate in the awakening of the early dynasty. However, early the next morning, Yang Guang sent someone to listen to politics again.
In the period when there was no war, the early dynasty usually focused on discussing state affairs, and Yang Ji had nothing to do. He just sat on the royal stairs and listened, listening to the monarchs and ministers talk about the recent developments in the Sui Dynasty.
Today’s first topic is still focused on food. Food is indispensable and has always been the country's first strategic material. The imperial court reserves food to prevent unexpected emergencies, such as sudden wars and sudden disasters, which require food, and the demand is always high.
"Counties in the north have reported disasters one after another. How much less tax is expected to be collected this year?" Yang Guang looked at Su Wei. Su Wei was Zuopushe of Shangshu Province. He was also in charge of the three departments of officials, people and rites, and was responsible for all matters related to people's livelihood. He cares.
Su Wei and the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs worked hard all night in Shangshu Province last night to compile the food data in the north. At this time, his eyes were red. When he heard Yang Guang's inquiry, he immediately went out to salute and said: "Sage, according to the old ministers and the Ministry of Civil Affairs Officials reviewed and found that the affected counties in the north received at least 70% less revenue than last year. I asked the court to reduce the taxes of the affected counties, and then allocate 3 million yuan from internal funds to provide work relief to help the people tide over the difficulties and wait until the good harvest. The Ministry of Civil Affairs will then repay the internal funds.”
The royal family also has huge family properties all over the world, and the internal funds are the private wealth and property of the royal family, which is essentially different from the Ministry of Civil Affairs. According to Suwei, the north is now severely affected by the disaster, and the national treasury must prepare for war and need money. To prevent other emergencies, the money intended to be used for work relief will first come from internal funds, and will be returned to the royal family when the treasury is full.
In short, Suwei intends to misappropriate "private" money for public use; this statement is a natural logic in the eyes of the courtiers. After all, the world belongs to your Yang family. Now that your people have been affected by the disaster, you must pay for it. Money helps people tide over difficulties. But then again, the internal funds in charge of Guizong Temple are indeed quite rich. It is not an exaggeration to say that they are extremely rich. When Yang Guang returned from pacifying Nanchen, Yang Jian took out three million from the internal funds. Bolts of silk and satin were rewarded to the army, and then during every New Year and festival, Yang Jian would use a large amount of money from his internal funds to reward officials and soldiers.
After Yang Guang put down Yang Liang's rebellion, he confiscated the homes of many officials who collaborated with the enemy and were traitors. Later, during the military reform, he confiscated the homes of many officers who were short-changed. However, these two huge sums of money were transferred to the national treasury. , and it was specially used to place the eliminated old and weak soldiers and form the Xiaoguo Army. However, the Department of Political Science and Law confiscated the homes of more than 10,000 illegal and false officials this year, and all the wealth obtained from them was confiscated by Yang Guang, and this money was only much more than what was confiscated during the military reform.
This scene naturally fell into the eyes of the courtiers, which also prompted the courtiers to be greedy for internal money and asked Yang Guang several times to take out the money.
"Since the founding of the Xiaoguo Army, half of the food and military pay for the 100,000 soldiers have been paid from internal funds. In addition, they have provided relief to many victims. There is not much internal funds left now, so we should draw it from the treasury!" Yang Guangfei is not a penny-poor emperor. , on the contrary, he was very generous and generous, and the stolen money he collected into internal funds was actually money compensated by the treasury to internal funds. This was only because the imperial court established thirteen universities in Supervisory Prefecture and counties across the country. The education was all advanced with money from internal funds; in addition, Yang Guang also donated a large sum to the Royal Women's Foundation, allowing the queen and the royal women, headed by Princess Leping, to purchase food to help the victims of the Bingzhou disaster.
However, internal funds can be said to be the last financial resources and strength of a dynasty, and they are also a life-saving straw at critical moments; when the chaos occurred during the military reform, the reason why the court was able to quell the anger of the Beijing soldiers was because of the internal funds that could be released from the treasury as soon as possible. Money and food; it is precisely because of this matter that Yang Guang now attaches great importance to internal money, and he will never use this money unless it is absolutely necessary.
However, these court officials were extremely cunning and deceitful. Even though the state treasury was obviously rich, they always thought of using their own money. They all wanted to empty their internal money. Yang Guang would not agree to it now.
After listening to Yang Guang's words, Yang Ji nodded secretly. As far as he knew, Yang Guang in history was too eager for quick success and listened to the deception of his courtiers. He actually used all his internal funds to fund the military. When there was a drought in Hebei, , more than thirty counties in Henan
When there was a flood, he had no money or food to use.
Although there is money and food in the national treasury and several major granaries, in that turbulent era, court officials and local officials had different hearts and ulterior motives. They wanted the world to be in chaos and wanted to create opportunities for "speakers of interests". How could they do this? What Yang Guangzhi wants? How can we use our heart to provide disaster relief? It is precisely because most officials deliberately indulged and delayed that more and more victims came and rebellions were suppressed.
If the internal funds had money and food at that time, and they did not follow the court procedures and directly invested in disaster relief, then the work efficiency would not be so procrastinating and the situation would not be so corrupt that it could not be dealt with. And now Yang Guang seems to be a lot more high-end. At least he has not been deceived into not distinguishing between public and private, and he is not impatient and hastily spending his internal funds.
"Old minister, I obey!" Hearing this, Su Wei had no choice but to say: "A few days ago, King Cai sent a letter from Jiangdu, saying that Yangzhou had a great harvest this year. In order to prevent the low price of grain from hurting farmers, he suggested that the court pay for the purchase of grain. If this money comes again, Where to come from?"
"Su Xiangguo, when did the national treasury get so poor? When did it become so poor that it can't even spend three million yuan? Could it be that the imperial court can't get things done without internal funds?" Yang Guang became impatient. He stared at Su Wei coldly and said in a deep voice: "I have also read King Cai's memorial. He is responsible for purchasing rice grains from the south, but the money must be sent to him in time by the court."
"Here!" Su Wei stopped talking.
"Saint!" The servant on your right shot Gao Jun out of the queue and saluted: "Since the 13th year of the founding of the Emperor in the south, there have been good harvests every year. Every county, county, township, and village has abundant warehouses and grain piles. As far as the old minister knows, People from all over the country are building free warehouses in order to store grain in the free warehouses. However, it is rainy in the south, and the free warehouses built by the people do not meet the rainproof and mildew-proof standards. Therefore, the grain in the free warehouses cannot be stored for a long time. In this case, why not use the name of the government to store the free warehouses in the south? The grain from the free warehouse is bought from the official warehouse in the north?"
The charity warehouse is a place where people store their own grain. It is equivalent to a grain foundation for local people to store grain in preparation for famines and disasters. The people must pay the grain to the charity warehouse after the autumn harvest every year, and then use it for disaster relief when there is a famine.
This kind of charity warehouse established by the private sector is generally managed by the local people and the people themselves, but county and county officials usually have the power and obligation to supervise. When the warehouse is opened to release grain, county and county officials must supervise to prevent He is practicing fraud and deceiving the people.
Because Yicang grain is the people's own grain, Gao Jiong used the word "buy" instead of levy.
Su Wei pondered for a long time and said: "This method of Gao Xiangguo is feasible. In this way, it can not only solve the problem of food shortage in the north, solve the dilemma of people in the south having food but no warehouse, but also renovate the food in the warehouse. But the people's food supply How will the money be distributed? Should it be kept by Li Zheng, or should it be distributed to the people?"
"Since it is the people's food, the money from selling the food will naturally be distributed to the people. Once the people get the money, their enthusiasm for saving food in the coming year will be greatly increased; and southern officials do not need to buy it from household to household, saving a lot of time and Manpower." Gao Jiong paused and then said: "Of course, more importantly, this is a very good understanding of the officials of counties and counties in the south. If the amount of grain in the free warehouse in any place does not match the account book, then the officials in this place will There is a problem."
"Sage, I agree with Gao Xiangguo's suggestion!" Pei Ju had been a local official for many years and had a deep understanding of the situation of local officials. He also reported: "However, every time the warehouse is opened to release grain, there will be incidents of corruption, and they The method of corruption is often the joint efforts of local elders, Li Zheng and supervising officials to deceive the superiors and subordinates. If small amounts of money are distributed, the corruption will be more serious. Therefore, when selling grain and dividing money, the Yezhetai will be inspected. Officials must be on hand to supervise to prevent corruption."
"This method is feasible!" Yang Guang nodded and asked: "Where is the food in the official warehouse in the south? How to deal with this?"
In an era where agriculture is the basis, if there is no food crisis in the world, no matter how many reasons there are, it will be difficult for those careerists to subvert a unified political power. Therefore, food has always been the most important thing for a dynasty to stabilize the country.
However, the vast territory of the Sui Dynasty, coupled with problems such as inconvenient transportation and lack of information, made it difficult for the emperor who was stationed in the Jiuchong Palace to grasp the food production, consumption and inventory situation in various places in a timely manner. Therefore, the imperial court designed
A complete set of grain inventory audit mechanisms and account verification methods have been developed.
This department that audits grain storage is not located in the Ministry of Civil Affairs, which is in charge of the national treasury, but in Sinong Temple. The purpose is to prevent the Ministry of Civil Affairs from colluding with local officials, competing with each other, and embezzling the court's grain together.
Sinong Temple is in charge of the food of various officials in the world, and is responsible for auditing once a quarter, while local officials are audited once a year. First, the local government reports to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs compiles statistics and then reports to the Ministry of Finance, and then Sinong Temple responds. , if any problem arises, it will be further investigated by the Yushitai.
In his memorial, Yang Zhiji did not say that there was a problem with the grain storage in the official warehouses in the south. Instead, he made two suggestions: first, he suggested that the court purchase a large amount of surplus grain from the people to prevent low prices and hurt farmers; second, he said that he inspected the largest official warehouse in Yangzhou. When I was in Yangcang, I found that the rice grains had been stored for too long and were already very old.
Jiangyangcang is located in Jiangdu County. It was the military warehouse built by Yang Guangping and Chen Qianqian. The inventory of this official warehouse can be used by 600,000 troops for two years. It is also the largest granary in the south. Later, when the world was unified, all counties in Yangzhou All the official grains were concentrated in Jiangyangcang. Before the canal was closed, the amount that could be transported from the north was not much. This increased year by year, so that the grains in some grain cellars had not been renovated for many years. If it is not processed anymore, I am afraid that It will become moldy and become inedible, so I hope the imperial court will transport all the grain from Jiangyangcang two years ago to the north to prevent it from going moldy.
Yang Zhiji also said in the memorial that Jiangyangcang was located in the north of the Yangtze River and on the bank of Hangou. There were thousands of ships every day, and the transportation was very convenient. Surplus grain could be purchased from other places at any time for storage, so that the court could use it at a cheaper price. The old rice is sold to the people in the north, and the new rice is stored at a higher price.
The price difference between one sale and one purchase was not a big loss to the Sui Dynasty, but it could take into account the strategic needs of the country's grain reserves, extend the storage time of grain reserves, and at the same time benefit ordinary people in the north who could not afford high-priced grains.
Yang Guang's question made the courtiers a little dumbfounded. The grain to be stored in the official warehouses in the north is naturally new grain. If the old rice from the south is transported, it will not be stored for long. In addition, the power is limited, so the grain transported by the official grain ship is new grain, while the old grain has been stored.
Yang Zhiji now wants to renovate all of Jiangyangcang, which is right, but the question is how will the court manage it?
"Saint!" Yuan Shou, the minister of Taifu Temple, saw the opportunity and hurriedly asked: "The imperial court's lack of transportation capacity makes it difficult to transport the grain from Jiangyangcang to the north. Can we open the old rice to private merchants?"
Yang Guang glanced at Yuan Shou, frowned and asked, "Open to private businessmen? But I don't know how Yuantai Mansion feels about opening it up?"
"Sage, many big merchants in the private sector have their own fleets and caravans. Since the court's transportation capacity will be insufficient for a while, the court might as well accept the ships of the big merchants for its own use." Yuan Shou glanced at Yang Guang, cupped his hands and said: "As long as a big merchant transports ten shi of rice to Luoyang, Daxing, or Taiyuan, the court can use one or two shi as freight, and the other eight or nine shi will be put into the official warehouse. There are also some big merchants who have their own breweries. , the imperial court can sell them old rice and moldy rice to make wine, but the fee charged by the imperial court is not money, but new rice."
After Yuan Zhou returned home last night, he immediately explained to Yuan Shou, Yuan Hongsi and others the harm of controlling the world's food. Now everyone in the Yuan family wants to get rid of this hot business, but the amount of food in hand is too huge. There is simply no one who can take over, and if the business is split up, it won’t be able to be completed at one time. At this time, when he heard that Yang Guang was worried about Chen Liang in the south and the court officials had no idea, Yuanshou came out to speak.
If Yang Guang agrees, the large amount of new rice in the hands of the Yuan family can be disposed of. As for the old rice from the south that the imperial court exchanges with them, it can be directly brewed into wine syrup in the south, and there is no need to transport it to the north.
There will definitely be some losses, but compared with the loss of a family, money is nothing. Besides, the Yuan family has made a lot of money from their grain business in the past few years, so Quan thought he had been working for nothing for a few years.
Moreover, if a large amount of wine brewed from a large amount of old rice in the south is sold to the Turks in the north, the Yuan family may not lose money, but make a huge profit.
It is a pity that Shao Daozi's brewing skills are firmly under the control of Prince Wei, and he dare not rob it. Otherwise, he will definitely make a lot of money.
He took a deep look at Yuan Shou and thought to himself that the Yuan family was not exhausted.
It’s the fool who finally realizes the harm of control.
As the emperor, Yang Guang certainly knew that the Dugu family used to be the largest grain merchant in the world. At the same time, he also knew that after the Dugu family realized the dangers of controlling grain, they transferred the danger to this money-making poison to the Yuan family. Originally, he wanted to In the future, he would use this leverage to deal with the Yuan family at a critical moment. Unexpectedly, Yuan Shou was quick to see the opportunity and actually came up with such a clever method that the court could not ignore.
Since the Yuan family is willing to come out and be taken advantage of to relieve the court's worries, then why not accept it?
Yang Guang made up his mind and said meaningfully to Yuanshou: "Jiangyangcang is the largest granary in the south, with millions of grains of rice. Yuantaifu's method can indeed solve all problems in the fastest time. Since Yuan The Taifu has made a plan, and after the disbandment of the dynasty, he will immediately start to draw up a conversion plan so that the court and private businessmen can have a basis."
When Yuan Shou heard the sentence "There are millions of stones and rice", his expression suddenly became very exciting; he finally realized that Yang Guang was completely following the trend and planned to let the Yuan family eat these millions of stones and rice. ; And the plan he formulated naturally cannot cause the court to lose too much.
"What? Is there any difficulty in the Yuantai Mansion?" As Yuan Shou expected, Yang Guang indeed planned to trick the Yuan family. The harder he tried to trick the Yuan family, the more the Yuan family would hate them for tricking them. When he saw Yuan Shou staying there, he looked at Yuan Shou with a smile and asked lightly: "If Yuantai Mansion has any difficulties at this time, you can tell us and let everyone solve it together." Already."
Yuan Shou secretly gritted his teeth, cupped his hands and said, "Return to the saint, I have no difficulty!"
Yang Guang nodded: "That's good! Without further ado, Yuantai Mansion will come up with this plan as soon as possible."
"Here!" Yuan Shou answered with his fists clasped.
When Dugu Shun, the Minister of Punishment, saw this, he frowned slightly, his calm expression completely gone. He knew very well that the Yuan family would suffer a huge loss this time. However, the Yuan family, which had suffered heavy losses, hated the emperor by no means. It is the Dugu family who is passing on conflicts and crises.
This feud is finally settled.
Maybe the Dugu family should help the Yuan family bear part of the losses, otherwise it will be difficult to get along with them in the future, but the elders may not be easy to talk to!
