Su Yonglin can clearly deduce the Chengdu court's next move.
The Chengdu imperial court would attack the owner-peasants, impose additional taxes, and intensify the exploitation of farmers to obtain enough resources to cope with the economic crisis, which would inevitably arouse strong resistance from the farmers.
As their cruel behavior continues and winter comes, a large number of farmers will lose their livelihoods. Once the farmers' patience reaches the limit and they lose all hope, it is natural for them to rise up.
The central headquarters of the Renaissance Association quickly gave its own suggestions on this matter. Su Yonglin wrote a letter to the Sichuan-Sichuan branch, telling them to be determined, good at observation, not blindly impulsive, and to find the right opportunity before taking action.
The central government supports Xu Tong's views.
The fact was just as Su Yonglin expected.
The time from the occurrence of the Mi riot to its quelling was very short, and Wu Lin resolutely carried out the orders of the Chengdu court.
While he was killing the activists and leaders of the Mi riot, he also recruited tens of thousands of unemployed people with their families into the army. The number of Wu Lin's army expanded from more than 60,000 to more than 90,000, and was about to reach 100,000. Count them.
The riot quickly subsided, without causing greater damage and failing to threaten the rule of the Chengdu court. The speed of failure exceeded the imagination of many members of the Sichuan-Shu branch.
They were surprised by Xu Tong's accurate judgment of the situation.
This successful judgment gave Xu Tong real prestige, and some senior members who joined the Renaissance earlier realized that Xu Tong was not just a young man who was good at military warfare.
He has a strategic vision.
This is a very difficult and rare ability, and it basically depends on personal understanding. It cannot be learned, otherwise the existence of a strategist will not be an important and valuable resource for a country.
The old man with high qualifications did not quite approve of Xu Tong as the director of the Sichuan-Sichuan branch, thinking that his qualifications were still shallow and he was only good at military affairs but not politics.
But facts have proven that Xu Tong is not only good at military affairs, but also has political ability and strategic vision. Xu Tong has initially established prestige among the Sichuan-Shu branch.
At the same time, the Chengdu court also fell into a new crisis.
While the number of troops was about to reach the number Wu Lin expected, the finances of the Chengdu court were also in a huge crisis.
Wu Lin was not responsible for financial work, and did not know much about or be enthusiastic about financial work. He only focused on the strength of the army and the enrichment of personnel. He was very happy about this, but did not understand the huge impact of the increase in military personnel on the Chengdu court. pressure.
Not everyone is as powerful as Zhuge Liang and can raise hundreds of thousands of troops in the land of Sichuan and Shu.
The hastily established Chengdu court did a poor job in financial work, so that the financial cash flow soon became unsustainable. For this reason, Chen Yongyan, the minister of household affairs of the Chengdu court who managed finance, made a report to Emperor Zhao Buxi.
“Originally, I thought that by nationalizing all the Shu brocade industry, I would be able to get a steady stream of fiscal revenue, enough to support the operation of the court and the military expenditure of a hundred thousand troops. However, I did not expect that the Shu brocade trade would be cut off by the Ming Dynasty and the Puppet Dynasty.
If it only relies on private sales and cannot operate normally, the gains will not be comparable to normal operations. The court's deficit for several months will not be able to stop. The current military expenditure of nearly 100,000 troops is a sum of money. After the destruction of seven or eight state capitals around Chengdu, it was another sum of money to rebuild and appease.
In addition to the cost of repairing various military projects to prevent the Ming army from attacking, the tax revenue of the previous quarters has been completely exhausted, and the money obtained from the collection of Lin'an court and rebel properties has also been basically exhausted. The national treasury is now exhausted. It's stretched thin. "
Zhao Buxi looked at Chen Yongyan's report, his brows furrowed and his face looked very ugly.
He is a financial official and has ten years of financial-related work experience. Problems in this area will never faze him, so Chen Yongyan's reports are all true and there is no fraud at all.
"Is it really this bad?"
Zhao Buyi asked in disbelief: "The imperial court has only been established for four months, has it already reached this point? I had some knowledge of Sichuan and Shu's finances before coming to Chengdu. It would never have reached this point. How could it suddenly deteriorate?" So far?"
"Your Majesty, it is indeed true."
Chen Yongyan said helplessly: "Sichuan and Shu did have some room for finance before. Your Majesty is also aware of other reasons. But there is another point. The ministers in Sichuan and Shu were just local officials. Their grades were not high, and their salaries were not high. Official fees are relatively low.
However, once the founding of the People's Republic of China, the number and grade of officials greatly increased, the cost of maintaining officials in the court increased significantly, the salaries of senior officials increased several times compared to before, and a large number of rewards were given to appease people's hearts, so... gradually it became difficult to make ends meet. of worries. "
Zhao Buxi was stunned for a moment, and after a while, his face showed a bitter expression.
"With such a small stall and such a big court, the Song Dynasty's stubborn problem of redundant officials and soldiers cannot be solved in the end, so what should we do..."
Seeing Zhao Buyi's troubled look, Chen Yongyan hesitated for a while and decided to speak.
"Your Majesty, in this current situation, only agricultural taxes can save the situation."
Zhao Buxi sighed after hearing this.
"Agricultural tax? The tax burden on the people of Sichuan and Sichuan is already very heavy. How can we continue to increase taxes? If we continue to increase taxes, I am afraid there will be big problems..."
Chen Yongyan whispered: "If the people cannot raise taxes, then the only targets that can raise taxes are the wealthy families in Sichuan and Sichuan. They control a large amount of fertile land but pay very little tax, and even evade taxes and do not pay them at all. If they If the taxes can be paid, the problem of insufficient national funds will be solved immediately!"
This is the main purpose of Chen Yongyan's memorial to Zhao Buxi.
Since industry and commerce can no longer make money, we can only turn our attention to agricultural taxes.
The agricultural tax for ordinary people has been increased to a high level. If it continues to be increased, something will happen.
The common people have become poor and have no money to exploit. Then the Chengdu court has only one group left to target - the powerful landlords of Sichuan and Sichuan.
There is money, land, and food. Once the taxes are collected, it will be a relief. The financial problems of the Chengdu court will be solved immediately. It is really a panacea.
However, after Chen Yongyan spoke up, he found that Zhao Buxi's expression turned even more ugly.
Although Zhao Buxi is not an official who is close to the people, he has also worked as a front-line official and has done financial work for so many years. He understands better than many officials who have been separated from the masses for a long time how difficult this seemingly simple problem is.
If the problem was really so easy to solve, would the Kaifeng and Lin'an courts still be in such trouble?
Now it was the turn of the Chengdu court, and the problem had not improved at all.
If the agricultural tax is really collected, it will definitely be a huge expense.
Just like the Ming Dynasty, agricultural tax is the absolute largest part of the Ming Dynasty's tax system, accounting for more than 90%. It is the main source of the Ming Dynasty's huge fiscal revenue.
However, the land annexation and powerful landlords in Sichuan and Sichuan made it impossible to collect the bulk of agricultural taxes.
