It's Henan Road, which is located in the important area of Gyeonggi Province. Except for the rotten guards who can't lift up and the new army who are still training, there are no soldiers to fight. The only ones who still have some fighting strength are probably those in the capital, the first unit of the Yulin Army that he brought to Longyou. Most of the others are not even capable of the task of suppressing bandits. As for the new army, it is still early to form combat capabilities.
Although a considerable part of those refugees have moved to Ningxia Prefecture, the number of refugees on Henan Road is still huge today. Although Zhengzhou and Junzhou have recovered their strength, they still cannot withstand any setbacks. Shandong Road, Hebei Road, and the Lianghuai River are the main sources of food for the imperial court today. If the increase in taxes provokes a civil uprising, the consequences will probably be even more serious.
Thinking of this, Huang Qiong, who also knew the difficulty of Fu Yuanshan, who was now the Prime Minister, sighed softly and said: "Master Fu, I am not aware of your difficulties. The prime minister, the prime minister, is responsible for assisting the emperor in governing. The whole world. From the expenditure of money and food for the two fronts of war, to the salaries of civil and military officials, to supervising the implementation of various policies, to whether officials at all levels are fulfilling their responsibilities, you, the prime minister, all have to deal with it."
"On my side, you will receive as many discounts as you approve every day. I am tired, and you and Lu Mengzheng, the two prime ministers, are even more tired than me. With a big stroke of my pen, the specific implementation is not You need to implement it one by one. Therefore, I have never thought that it is your fault to be careful with your calculations. And not only is it not a fault, you are also truly loyal in doing this errand for the imperial court."
"As the saying goes, if you are not a family member, you don't know the price of firewood and rice. I still know it. But Mr. Fu, there are some things that can be saved, and there are some things that cannot be saved. Especially when the war is in full swing, not only cannot it be saved, but it is even delayed. You can’t delay. If you can’t solve the problem of insufficient money and food, you can come to me. If the Zhongshu Province is really unable to raise funds, I can allocate it to you from the internal treasury.”
"I also know that Mr. Fu doesn't want to mix the national treasury with the internal treasury. Such a lack of distinction between public and private affairs is not good for the country and the heavenly family. But there are priorities and urgent matters, so don't worry about the doctor. In this world The world is not for the Huang family, but for all people in the world. As an imperial family, the Huang family is just a herdsman on behalf of heaven. We cannot just focus on enjoying happiness and not be as good as the country."
Speaking of this, Huang Qiong sighed slightly and said: "Actually, Master Fu wants to temporarily increase some taxes and then reduce them after the rebellion is calmed down. I have never thought about it. But Master Fu, you are also a Jinshi. A person who has been an official for many years. He has also been promoted from the county magistrate, and he has also served as an envoy and magistrate. The dirty methods of those officials in the court are much clearer than me."
"Especially those local officials, they think that the sky is high and the emperor is far away. He is the third boss in the sky and the second boss in the earth. If the court levies a penny of tax, he dares to add an extra hundred penny. If the court levies a penny of rice, then They dare to collect just one stone. The most important thing is that those really wealthy officials, gentry and clans occupy most of the land in the world, but they refuse to pay taxes and food because of their status."
"It is easy for the court to raise taxes, but these taxes, like the annual money and food, will ultimately fall on the powerless and lowest-level people. The burden on the people in this world is already extremely heavy. Hard work and hard work will eventually fall on the people at the lowest level. In the year, when the money and food from the court are gone, and the corrupt officials are reaching out at all levels, they can't even afford food and clothing. In disaster years, it is even more necessary to sell wives and children to survive."
"Master Fu, since ancient times, among the common people in this world, from the pre-Qin to the early Han, and then to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, how many of the rebellious common people took the initiative to rebel? Isn't that the official forcing the people to rebel? Now the imperial court is fighting on two fronts, itself It is already stretched to its left and right. If the people of the Central Plains, plus the Huaihe River area, have rebelled several times in the past, I am afraid that the Great Qi Dynasty will really be destroyed."
Regarding Huang Qiong's words, Fu Yuanshan was a little dissatisfied and said: "If His Highness is worried about corrupt officials, he can use the name of Zhongshu Province to post notices to increase the tax per acre of the imperial court's land. , what kind of compensation the court will give after the rebellion is put down, will be announced one by one, and will be announced to the people of the world, and will not give those corrupt officials a chance to take advantage of them. "
Huang Qiong looked at Fu Yuanshan's suggestion strangely, and said after a long time: "The most complicated thing in the world is the human heart. When you publish a list, can you send people from Beijing to post all the articles? No matter what, What kind of announcement has to be distributed from Zhongshu Province to various roads and posted through Fuzhou and County? A notice will be completely different if the content is slightly deleted."
"Besides, how many of the people who actually paid the money and food are literate? What if the content of this notice is not what the local government said? Are there any ordinary people here who can tell whether the notice is true or false? What if it's the one in the south? You are taking the opportunity to spread rumors. Who in the world can not guarantee that another Chen Sheng and Wu Guang will appear? The master in the south will not let this opportunity pass."
"The more chaos we have here and the beacon fires everywhere, the happier he will be. At that time, will we take care of Jiangnan and Saibei, or the Central Plains? If there is a rebellion on the east-west road of Guangnan, even if the whole of Jiangnan is lost, all of us will be lost for a while. It may not shake the foundation of the imperial court. But if there is chaos in the Central Plains, that will be our real concern. Has Mr. Fu forgotten how the chaos on Shanxi Road started?"
After Huang Qiong said this, Fu Yuanshan fell silent. As Ping Zhangshi, a disciple of Zhongshu and now the prime minister of the Great Qi Dynasty, he knows better than anyone else how rotten the bureaucracy that drives the operation of this empire is. And with the rebellion of the Guilin County King, even the fig leaf that was not glamorous, but acceptable, has been completely lifted.
He also knew that the master in front of him had been trying to find ways to turn things around and inject new vitality into this decadent institution. The Military Aircraft Department was established and a large number of talented young officials with at least decent conduct were promoted in an attempt to partially change the current situation. But this is a long process and cannot be accomplished in one fell swoop. But what we are facing now is the most complex situation since the founding of the People's Republic of China.
With counterinsurgency and resistance to external humiliation becoming the top priority, everything must give way to these two things. It will be extremely difficult for anyone to rely on these large, inefficient, greedy and corrupt bureaucracies to deal with this situation. At this point, Fu Yuanshan also has a deep understanding of this. Many times, as the prime minister, he always feels powerless.
It's not that he doesn't understand what the prince means. It's just that counter-insurgency matters are above all else now, and nothing is more important than counter-insurgency. Because at the forefront of the confrontation between Qi and Liao, Fu Yuanshan, who had served as the prefect of Yanshan, believed that this time the Northern Liao army went south to the border with the invaders, it was just a case of scabies. As long as they can hold the front line of the Great Wall inside and outside Shanxi and Hebei, Beiliao will be helpless no matter how strong its military strength is.
Today, the main direction of the northern Liao border is the Yanshan Prefecture line. In the direction of Yunzhou, although more than ten thousand troops and horses were gathered, it was just to harass and attract the attention of the court. However, Yanshan Mansion is surrounded by mountains and the terrain is extremely steep, making it impossible for Bei Liao's cavalry to move forward. There is the Great Wall to the north, and without the advantage of cavalry, Beiliao can only say that it is a dream to capture Yanshan Mansion.
This Yanshan Mansion has been the front line of the confrontation between the Central Plains Dynasty and the northern nomads since ancient times. Since the pre-Qin Dynasty, no nomadic people have conquered Yanshan Prefecture from the north. Whether it is the Xiongnu who once roamed the grassland, or the Turks, Xianbei, and Yanshan Prefecture, they relied on the danger of geographical advantage. As long as Yanshan Prefecture is in the hands of this dynasty, Bei Liao will be helpless against the Central Plains.
The rebellion in the south is now a serious concern. The financial resources of the Guilin County Prince's Palace are probably far inferior to those of all the tribes of Bei Liao who started out as nomads. If you have money, you can make the devil grind the mill; if you have money, you can recruit troops and gather food. Coupled with the court's inefficient and corrupt bureaucracy, dealing with such an opponent would probably result in half the effort with half the effort. The most important thing is that Jiangnan is the largest source of revenue for the imperial court.
Now the Guilin County Prince has launched a rebellion in the south and has captured most of Jiangnan West Road and the entire Huguang South Road. And if all Jiangnan West Road falls, then Jiangning Mansion will be in danger. If Jiangnan East Road is lost, what can the imperial court do if it only guards Jiangbei? Jiangnan East Road has Jiangning Prefecture, Suzhou Prefecture, Zhenjiang Prefecture and other prefectures. The fiscal and taxation input of each prefecture in one year is almost equivalent to one Shaanxi Road.
If Jiangnan East Road and the two Zhejiang provinces were lost, the imperial court's already stretched income would probably be even more difficult to make ends meet. If we rely solely on Shandong Road and Liangchuan, we will not be able to uncover this pot. Before the rebels could completely sweep across Jiangnan, the imperial court must wipe them out completely outside the Jiangnan East Road at all costs. Even in the north, they would not hesitate to cause several rebellions.
Fu Yuanshan is not ignorant of the suffering of the people, but in his opinion, long-term pain is worse than short-term pain. Once Jiangnan is lost, if the rebels are allowed to grow in size, there will be no telling how much it will cost to suppress the rebellion in the future. This is also the most helpless choice between two powers that harm each other. But the master in front of him, at this point, is completely different from his usual aggressive and decisive style, not to mention that he is even quite stubborn.
Looking at Fu Yuanshan's worried expression, Huang Qiong knew what he was worried about. But he smiled and said comforting words: "Master Fu, don't worry, I have some solutions to the difficult income. Don't worry, I will never make it difficult for you, the prime minister. If there is a war on the two fronts, either side will We won’t see the outcome within half a year, but I promise to get you four million dollars.”
Huang Qiong's guarantee made Fu Yuanshan stunned. He thought about it carefully for a long time, carefully considering all the ways to get money from the court, but he didn't figure out where this man could get the four million yuan from, except for raising taxes. But just when Fu Yuanshan opened his mouth to ask Huang Qiong where the money could come from, Huang Qiong interrupted him.
Patting the confused Fu Yuanshan on the shoulder, Huang Qiong said: "Master Fu, I have been very tired of criticizing and criticizing these days. I haven't relaxed for a long time. I came here uninvited today, not to talk to Master Fu. Government affairs. I heard that the chrysanthemums in Master Fu's garden are blooming very well, so I came to disturb you. After today, I don't have time to come even if I want to. "
When Huang Qiong said these words, he could not tell how exhausted he was. He also knew that the Lord had to deal with military and political affairs and prepare for the enthronement ceremony these days. He was very busy. What’s more, what this Lord wants you to know will be told to you without you asking. If he thinks it's not time for others to know, then even if you pry his mouth with a knife, he won't say anything.
Helpless Fu Yuanshan had no choice but to accompany Huang Qiong for a walk in his garden. In fact, Fu Yuanshan didn't know that Huang Qiong, who was currently very busy and had no skills, would have the leisure to come to his house to admire the chrysanthemums? No matter how well the chrysanthemums bloom in his garden, Huang Qiong, a mere layman, has no interest in them. What's more, under the influence of her mother since childhood, Huang Qiong prefers plum blossoms.
