These so-called suggestions that the emperor and Huang Qiong talked about were not arranged by the emperor. But when he received the secret message, Huang Qiong's three brothers were being summoned to meet the saint in Wende Hall. This suggestion was put forward by the one among the three who always believed that his talents were not appreciated and his ability was no worse than that of his bullshit Ninth Brother, but the old man had never given him a chance.
This dear friend didn't know if he was confused by the emperor's sudden inquiry about his government affairs, especially the use of troops. Either he was born with just a few real materials in his belly, or he spoke without thinking at all. Without thinking about the character of his own emperor, he opened his mouth and said such an idea. He thought he had the best of both worlds, and even though he did not pay compensation, he would also cede territory.
The old man didn't know what his motives were. He was irritated and wanted to use his son to relieve his boredom, or he had other ideas. Faced with this absolutely bad idea, I gave him a comment that went on. As a result, when this guy got excited, he couldn't control his mouth. He asked for help, wanting to use his dignity as a prince to personally pacify the rebellious party members in Ningxia Mansion.
If these things were brought up to Huang Qiong, Huang Qiong would immediately see that one of the old men was taking pleasure in his poverty, while the other was there to lure the snake out of its hole. But this old man just doesn't have this consciousness. After receiving a few compliments from the old man, I felt a little happy. He wanted to take this opportunity to win over Ningxia Dangxiang people as his foreign aid.
It's a pity that no matter how loyal he is, the old man is just waiting for him to think about it before speaking. The old man rejected this bad idea directly, and now he brought it up to Huang Qiong. One is the emperor who wants to take this opportunity to test the adaptability of his ninth son. Another thing is to look at his ambition. Do you have the courage to challenge a powerful enemy?
After looking at Huang Qiong's face, the emperor ignored him and continued talking to himself: "Some people think that this way they can save some money and food and concentrate on dealing with the Northern Liao outside the Great Wall. Anyway, there are many Tibetan tribes in Ningxia Prefecture. In this miscellaneous place, there is no wind and three-foot waves on weekdays. Besides, except for the Hetao area, the rest of the area is either barren and the people are poor, or there is a drought nine out of ten years."
"On weekdays, even if the weather is good and the grain is abundant in other places in Longyou, Ningxia will always have three years of drought and another three years of floods. Even if the tax is calculated, the annual tax revenue is not much. From time to time, the court has to spend a lot of money We will use the money and food to supplement the Ningxia Prefecture. The Ningxia Prefecture is also connected to the Northwestern Unified Army Division of Northern Liao, although it is not the main direction of the invasion of Northern Liao."
"But every time the Northern Liao invaded the Great Wall, Ningxia Prefecture was the target of attack by the Northwest Unified Army Division. For the imperial court, this Ningxia Prefecture was a worthless thing, tasteless and a pity to abandon. Now that the party members are rebelling, it is Instead of spending a lot of money and food to quell the rebellion, it is better to just give Tuoba Jiqian a title and reward him from the Ningxia Mansion, in order to put an end to the trouble as soon as possible."
"In the situation where we have tigers and leopards outside Da Qi, this is actually safer. Not to mention, it can also provoke a dispute between Bei Liao and the Dangxiang people, and let the Dangxiang people help Da Qi share the pressure of Bei Liao. At least in the northwest region, the pressure of the imperial court to prepare borders can be thrown off to the party members as a burden. Not only can the imperial court save a lot of money and food every year, but it can also concentrate its forces to deal with Shanxi and Hebei."
As soon as the emperor finished speaking, Huang Qiong's face was not as low as usual and he said: "My lord, I don't know who came up with this idea. But I only know that although our Daqi Dynasty has a vast territory, not an inch of land is redundant. . This man abandoned his land without fighting. At the very least, he is trying to confuse the emperor, and at the most serious, he wants to cut off the foundation of our dynasty. This man really deserves to be killed."
"Let's not talk about how much harm this person will bring to our country by abandoning the land. But he is timid before fighting. Isn't it just to show to the Dangxiang rebels that the court is empty and unable to send out a large army to quell the rebellion, so they have no choice but to abandon Ningxia? Mansion? In this way, I'm afraid that Tuoba Jiqian, even if he doesn't have a big appetite at first, will be spoiled by the court and his appetite will be greatly increased. I'm afraid there will be no Ningxia Mansion in the future."
"Even if the imperial court adds the entire Longyou Road, it may not be able to satisfy his appetite. Although Ningxia Mansion is a little barren, it is definitely not useless to our Qi Dynasty, but an important barrier for our government in the northwest. Ningxia Mansion's Helan Mountain blocked the route of the Bei Liao cavalry going directly south. It was precisely because of the barrier of Helan Mountain that the Bei Liao cavalry could not successfully break into the hinterland of Longyou."
"Longyou is the main production area of our dynasty's military horses. In the more than a hundred years of confrontation between our dynasty and the Northern Liao Dynasty, we have always had the upper hand. The main reason is the high-quality military horses produced by Longyou, and we have formed a cavalry that can run rampant in the world. The Northern Liao Dynasty has always had the upper hand. For many years, I have been with Huihe and he has been obsessed with us on the right side of Long and tried every means to cut off the source of our cavalry and horses, so that our Qi cavalry will no longer be able to compete with them."
"The Longyou Road has been safe and sound for more than a hundred years, except for our Daqi cavalry, which has won every battle against the Uighur and Tubo tribes. It is also because of the strong barrier of Helan Mountain and Dingyuan Prefecture in Ningxia Prefecture that it Beiliao is unable to break through our northwest defense line from the west, and is unable to invade the hinterland of Longyou. Ningxia Mansion is our northwestern barrier. If Ningxia Mansion is lost, it will be difficult to defend the entire Longyou."
"What's more, because of a rebellion, the imperial court did not take any counter-insurgency actions, and even the army did not even clear it out. It can be said to have set a very bad precedent for giving up the territory of the government. It also gave me the territory of Da Qi Dynasty. The Zhuji Prefectures and the northwest Tibetans have set an extremely bad example. Could it be that if they are slightly dissatisfied with the imperial court in the future, they can rebel at any time?"
"Then in order to quell the rebellion as soon as possible, the imperial court can cede territory at will so that they can claim kingship and hegemony on the spot? Even in the future, rebellions in various states and counties in the mainland will be handled this way? No matter what the original intention of Tuoba's rebellion is, no matter what the imperial court is doing at the moment No matter how tight money and food are, this nasty port must not be opened. If we do that, wouldn’t we be worse than the former Tang Dynasty, which was divided into vassal towns? "
"Also, Ningxia Prefecture is connected to the entire Longyou Road and Shaanxi Road. If Ningxia Prefecture is lost, the entire Longyou Road and Shaanxi Road will not be peaceful. Especially now, the drought on the Second Road has not been completely resolved. . If this rebellion cannot be resolved as soon as possible, and once there are Yellow Turban Zhangjiao and his ilk on the second line, and they rise up to respond to their rebellion, the entire northwest will fall into chaos."
"Just as my father said, if Longyou is lost, the court will not only lose a piece of land, but also lose the main source of our Daqi cavalry horses. And without these horses, our court will no longer be able to compete with us. The Northern Liao Dynasty is competing against each other. According to the opinions of my father and son, this rebellion of Tuoba Jiqian must not only be suppressed, but also heavy troops must be mobilized as soon as possible to destroy it before it escapes from Ningxia Prefecture."
"As for money and food, my father does not need to worry too much for the time being. Although the court is still slightly short of money and food, there is still no problem in supporting Longyou in countering the rebellion. At this point, I am still quite confident. As long as Longyou sends out Under the command of capable generals and without engaging in perennial tug-of-war, there will be no problem with the money and food accumulated by the court to last at least the previous year."
After Huang Qiong said these words, the emperor couldn't help but be stunned? Looking at this confident son, the emperor hesitated for a moment and finally asked: "You told me not to worry about money and food. Then I ask you, how should I solve the problem of money and food? Ah Jiu, this matter is of great concern. It's important, don't fool me. Don't I still know the royal court's annual income?"
"Although I say I'm letting you go now, I still know how much the imperial court spends in a year. Although the spring tax this year has been well received, after excluding various expenses, the national treasury is now full of 300,000 yuan and more than 100,000 yuan. The balance of Shi Liang is good. And these 300,000 yuan can be used to counter the rebellion in Shanxi. The people have been in poverty for a long time, and I don’t want to increase taxes at this time."
Regarding the emperor's disbelief, Huang Qiong said confidently: "Father, I have been helping to manage the affairs of the court for the past six months. I know that the income of the court is currently difficult, so I have been making careful calculations. In the past six months, although the results have not been so obvious, . But the Ministry of Revenue has now accumulated millions of stones of grain, more than 100 guan of money, more than 50,000 taels of silver, and more than 300,000 pieces of silk and satin."
"These money and grains have been used to make up for the salaries of officials this year, and to allocate necessary funds for river engineering, water transportation, etc., and the balance can be used at any time. Originally, I thought that at the end of the year, I would have more balance, so that my father could use it. The construction of the Shouling Mausoleum has been resumed so that Queen Daxing can be laid to rest as soon as possible. Now that Longyou wants to use troops, let's use them first."
"Although it is a little less, there is no problem in supporting the Ningxia Prefecture and Shanxi Road to counter the rebellion. Especially the Shanxi Road counterinsurgency has basically entered the eradication stage, and the money and food spent has been greatly reduced. Support Longyou There is no problem at all in using troops. This is not an exaggeration, my father. If you don’t believe it, you can go to the Warehousing Department of the Ministry of Household Affairs to take stock for yourself."
I heard that in the past, the warehouse of the Ministry of Finance, which had bottomed out every year before the autumn taxes were put into the warehouse at the end of the year, would have starved to death for mice, has now accumulated so much money and food. It can be said that in order to build a new palace, Emperor Sejong squandered the wealth accumulated by the court over the past few decades. As a result, the court now fails to pay almost every year. This can be said to be the first time in the past thirty years.
This is the first time since he took the throne more than 20 years ago that the imperial court has fully allocated the official salaries and necessary money and food for river workers, and the balance was only within half a year. This kid is actually so capable, and he's even better at managing money. Why didn't I see that before? This is still under the circumstances that Tobe himself has not completely let go, but this boy can still do this.
However, the emperor is no ordinary person. Although he was a little stunned just now, he quickly came to his senses. There is nothing wrong with the fact that the imperial court's income is becoming increasingly tight, and it is even difficult to make ends meet. But why did a different person do the same thing, and the results were so different? The emperor is still confident that Huang Qiong has accumulated so much money and food in half a year. Is this a case of arbitrary deductions?
He knew that his son, who had a strong sense of the overall situation, knew very well what should be done and what should not be done. He would definitely not be able to exploit his subordinates randomly. There is only one possibility for accumulating such a large balance in the past six months. That is because before, when approving money, my hand was a little too loose. The money that should have been approved was also approved, and the money that actually should not have been approved was also approved.
And the extra money probably went into the pocket of that bastard official. I don’t know how much of the money and food I have allocated over the years has been deceived. Thinking of this, the emperor couldn't help but feel a little angry and even felt a little embarrassed in front of his son.
In fact, this cannot be entirely blamed on the emperor. How many emperors in the past dynasties of China were able to manage money? Most emperors probably don't even understand what a ledger is. Otherwise, he wouldn't have come up with dozens of taels of silver for an egg and told such weird things that people would laugh out loud.
