Although he, Yang Jiyuan, is a bit more straight-tempered, he is a good man and was born in the second rank of Jinshi. He is not stupid. Can a stupid person pass the imperial examination? Can you turn literature into martial arts and do it so well? However, he also knew that Huang Qiong had somewhat deceived him. But Yang Jiyuan still has a strong outlook on the overall situation. Knowing that Huang Qiong needs people like him now, he will not let him go until Yu Mingyuan is transferred back.
So, he stopped. What's more, although this new king is very likely to deceive him, Haolai finally has some hope, doesn't he? However, the guy nicknamed Yang Duodun seemed to be a little more angry. Originally, it was not in line with his wishes, and he would fight anyone he saw. Now he was even quarreling with the sky and the earth, and even the air in the middle was turbulent. He had the loudest voice in the court.
Five days before Huang Qiong's coronation ceremony, this guy was so angry in the court that he didn't say anything about the extra money and food. He even chased him to Zhongshu Province, where he was ridiculed by Fu Yuanshan again. As soon as he returned home, he couldn't care less about his usual care for the prime minister. In front of his wife and all his family members, he yelled at this guy for being a bastard.
When she saw her husband, she was so angry that she started to relapse into her old habits from Yanshan Mansion, which she had restrained for many years. The lady, who had been married to Fu Yuanshan for thirty years, could only shake her head helplessly. After ordering the maid beside her to make tea, she calmed down Fu Yuanshan for a while before saying curiously: "The master has been telling us about the city all day long."
"What's wrong today? You're so angry at someone? Ever since you were transferred back to the capital, you've always told me to control your temper. You can't be angry all day long like you were in Yanshan Mansion. How can you say it yourself? If so, why did you forget it so quickly? How old are you, and now you have reached the position of prime minister. How about your qualities as a prime minister? Fortunately, you are a genuine second-ranked Jinshi."
After hearing his wife's persuasion, Fu Yuanshan took a sip of tea and finally felt relieved. He rolled his eyes and said: "What's wrong? What else can be done? Aren't you so angry at that Yang Tao? I have been an official for more than 20 years, and I have never seen such a bastard? He is a deputy privy envoy and acting privy minister. The envoy, and he doesn't care about the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household Affairs, he is always asking for money all day long."
"You really don't know how expensive firewood and rice are when you are not a householder. Nowadays, it is increasingly difficult to earn income, but the war on the two fronts is like a flood of money and food. The money and food are spent like a flood. His Royal Highness has not only reduced the expenses in the palace, but also reduced his own enthronement ceremony. , to save money and food. When he arrived, he stretched out his hand and opened his mouth and asked for one hundred thousand pieces of cloth and one hundred thousand pieces of money. He said it was a gift of grace and compensation to the officers and soldiers who died on the two fronts."
"I just told him that it's not that he shouldn't give the money. It's just that it will be given a few days later, after the new king's coronation ceremony, and the Ministry of Revenue will allocate it again. But he refused to give in, and today he even caught up with Zhongshu. Save it. The war ahead is tight now, and it affects morale. Naturally, living people cannot be owed money and food. But people cannot be resurrected, and it is not a big deal to be in arrears for several months. "
Just when Fu Yuanshan was about to continue talking, a familiar voice came from outside his living room: "No, living people cannot be owed money in arrears, and dead people's money cannot be owed in arrears. Living people's money is arrears in arrears. There is still a chance to make up for it. But there is no way to make up for the money owed to the dead. Behind every fallen soldier, there are a group of orphans and widows left behind, and they also have to live."
Hearing the voices coming from outside the door, Fu Yuanshan hurriedly looked up, but Huang Qiong, who didn't know when he arrived at his home, was standing outside the door. After scolding the slave for not notifying him, he quickly stood up and saluted. Just when he saluted, Huang Qiong supported him: "Since we have arrived at Master Fu's residence now, and I have bothered Master Fu rashly, these false courtesy can be dispensed with."
After that, Huang Qiong stepped in and looked at the living room where Fu Yuanshan looked extremely elegant in both decorations and pendants. There were also several banners written by Fu Yuanshan himself. Huang Qiong nodded appreciatively: "Fu Yuanshan Your Excellency, you are worthy of being born second in the current dynasty. This living room is so elegantly decorated. I didn't expect that Master Fu's Yan style calligraphy captures the essence of Yan style."
"If I hadn't read the inscription and postscript, I would have thought it was the original work of Yan Zhenqing. Putting aside Master Fu's talent, this single stroke of handwriting is enough to arrogantly dwarf the literati of this dynasty. This does not have a certain magnanimity, but someone who cannot write this kind of handwriting . As the saying goes, words are like people. This word of Mr. Fu also shows that Mr. Fu's magnanimity can tolerate anything the world can tolerate, and he will not care too much about a bastard. "
Who is Fu Yuanshan? He can be highly used by Huang Qiong and his son, and promoted repeatedly, how can he be an ordinary person? When Huang Qiong said the word "bastard", Fu Yuanshan immediately knew why this master was here today. I remembered that even though he had been appointed as a military attaché, Haolai was a second-ranked scholar anyway, yet he could still be so arrogant and unreasonable.
When he was a civil servant, he was not popular with his colleagues, and when he was a military attache, he was not popular with his colleagues. If it weren't for his true talent and a little bit of luck, that guy would have died countless times. Only Fu Yuanshan, who was smiling wryly, could be found in his heart. Knowing that the conflict between the two people today must have been known to the master, he could only shake his head and smile bitterly: "Your Highness, I am not that small-minded."
"Although I am not yet a prime minister, I still have a certain amount of magnanimity, and I really can't get angry with that famous stubborn donkey. I also know that the money for the burial of the fallen soldiers at the front must not be defaulted. This is It is related to the morale and morale of the troops on the front line. But now we have to prepare for His Highness’s enthronement ceremony, as well as deal with the war on the northern and southern fronts, and the household department is really unable to make ends meet.”
"I'm thinking that next month Shanxi Road's 250,000 Guan Ding payment for this year will arrive. I will just make up for it then. In the Ministry of Household Affairs, even the poor people can starve to death. Your Highness We also care about the people's strength and cannot raise taxes at this time. I am really at a loss now. Your Highness, it doesn't matter if you are late for a month's burial, but for the war ahead, not even a stone of food can be saved."
Huang Qiong sighed softly at Fu Yuanshan's explanation. Although the rebels now occupy Huguang South Road, as well as Fujian and Guangnan East Road, this actually has little impact on the court's revenue. Except for Huguang South Road, these three roads were the main grain producing areas for the imperial court in the south of the Yangtze River. The loss of the other two roads would really have little impact on the court's annual revenue, because these two roads could not collect much tax in the first place.
Fujian Road is rich in tea, but 60% of the tea gardens belong to the Guilin County Prince's Palace. Not to mention that the original Guilin County Prince's Palace had never paid taxes on these tea gardens. After the imperial court took back the overseas trade rights of the Guilin County Prince's Palace, the old man didn't know what happened, and even promised to reduce or exempt all taxes on all the properties of the Guilin County Prince's Palace. This also includes the sugar factory and sugar fields on Guangnan West Road.
Therefore, the tea tax on Fujian Road and the sugar and salt tax on Guangnan East Road add up to only a few hundred thousand guan a year, of which the salt tax on Guangnan East Road is the main one. The imperial court was not able to make ends meet due to the loss of these tax sources. The real loss is the loss of the commercial taxes paid by the Guilin County Prince's Office every year. As for the newly opened port, there are now very few Hu merchants.
The entire Jiangnan merchants did not support this matter at all. Huang Qiong sent people to force them to sell silk, porcelain, and medicinal materials, but the effect was extremely limited. Huang Qiong still knows who is behind this. Hu Shang could not come, so it was thought that the huge fleet belonging to the Guilin County Prince's Palace blocked Hu Shang's fleet at sea. Jiangnan merchants refused to sell their goods, so the Guilin County Prince sent people to threaten them.
It's not that those businessmen are unwilling to sell, but they dare not sell. Several merchants once sold a batch of silk to a Persian businessman privately, only to be wiped out within half a month. Although the local government mentioned it in the memorial, it was hesitant. But in the whole Jiangnan, even fools knew who did this. At this point, the information provided by the Fan family also showed that it was the Guilin County Prince's Mansion that was involved.
It's easy to say on land, merchants in the south of the Yangtze River dare not sell it, but porcelain is also produced in the north of the Yangtze River. Although the quality of the silk produced in Jiangbei is slightly inferior to that in Jiangnan, it is not without quality. Similarly, Huainan Road and Huguang South Road in Jiangbei are also rich in tea. But the problem is that the sea is all in the hands of the Guilin County Prince's Palace. When King Yong was on patrol, Huang Qiong once ordered him to check the situation of the navy in Shandong and Jiangnan 2nd Road.
In the notes played by King Yong, Huang Qiong was clearly told that the two naval forces were in dire straits. On the surface, there are hundreds of boats, but only a dozen small sampans can go out to sea. The rest of the ships were all in dilapidated condition. Sails, oars, and rudders were almost all missing, and there were only a few ordnances left. At least half of the soldiers in the second navy had almost never been to sea.
The remaining half of the ships that can still go to sea are following the military attachés at all levels, and they are busy making money together in the name of inspecting maritime smuggling. Even because Shandong Road is located at an important starting point for maritime trade with Japan and Korea. Many military attachés of the Shandong Road Navy simply joined the smuggling sequence. Everyone is busy making money, but how many of them are thinking about preparing for war and renovating ships for battle?
As for the navy on Jiangnan East Road, it was even worse. Not only did they directly use the navy, but they also used mobile ships to participate in smuggling. They even used warships as fishing boats to organize people to go fishing in the open sea. After making salted fish, Jiangnan merchants were forced to buy it. He even colluded with the former Jiangnan East Road Jiedu Envoy to use the salted fish made by the Jiangnan East Road Navy to replace part of the rations for officers and soldiers at all levels of the Guards.
As a result, every guard camp on Jiangnan East Road was filled with the fishy smell of salted fish when it was time to eat. How can a navy in this state compete with the Guilin Prince's Mansion and those fleets that have been making a living at sea all year round? If you want to restore the combat effectiveness of these naval forces, it will take a lot of time to rectify it. The most critical thing is the lack of talent. At the same time, a lot of money is needed to build new warships.
The Guilin County Prince's Mansion no longer pays taxes. On weekdays, the court pays careful attention to its own budget, so it can barely survive. But once the war started, the money and food flowed out like water, and it became difficult to make ends meet. Huang Qiong also knew Fu Yuanshan's difficulties. Otherwise, with his style as an official, he would not ask himself again and again, even if he temporarily increases some taxes.
After the imperial court suppresses the rebellion, the additional taxes will be exempted. Even after the rebellion is over, some taxes can be exempted to compensate the people of this world. Huang Qiong had not considered Fu Yuanshan's suggestions at first. But the problem is that with this thousands-year-old tradition in the officialdom, no matter how good the policy formulation is at the top, when it comes to the implementation steps at the bottom, none of them will be out of shape or without problems.
If the imperial court levies an additional tax of one penny, the subordinates dare to charge an additional ten pence. The imperial court imposed an additional tax of five hundred coins, and the following dared to receive the same amount of money. The imperial court exempted taxes for three years, but the people below dared to continue to collect taxes in disguised terms and in disguise. It's just that the collected money and grain went into the officials' own pockets. Nowadays, the imperial court consumes a lot of military and financial resources.
