The next day at the court meeting, Yang Guang announced the great Suo Maung Yue.
Da Suo Mao Yue was the largest local inspection in the Sui Dynasty, and the inspection envoys were all officials at the central level. The higher the official, the people below will be jealous of you. If the official is too small, the people below are I won't take you seriously.
As soon as Yang Guang said these words, the faces of the people below became uglier than the last, because this kind of inspection was aimed at them.
But they are also lucky, because every time they conduct a survey, they are not inspecting the entire world, but a certain place.
Inspections during the Kaihuang years were not intensive because Yang Jian did not want to offend people too much, and the treasury was always full, so there was no need to be too harsh.
Today is different from the past. The treasury is now out of money. Luoyang has built several large warehouses in one go. The emperor plans to fill them up. Therefore, many people think that Yang Guang’s Da Suo Maung Yue went down to find money for the treasury.
Then the most likely patrols are Bashu and Jingzhou. Generally speaking, we will not go to Southwest and Lingnan, because if you check these two places, they will rebel.
Seventy percent of the officials in the court are from Guanzhong, so what they fear most is patrolling Guanzhong.
So Li Hun stood up first and said: "Since your Majesty intends to send an inspection envoy, I think Bashu is the most suitable place. Yizhou is dangerous and fertile. The rich fields are thousands of miles away. The wealthy families in Bashu have the benefits of salt and copper, and their households specialize in materials from mountains and rivers. Over the years, taxes have not been paid." It’s the worst in the world and this place should have been investigated long ago.”
He is right. Sichuan is a very special place, and the complexity of the problems is not much worse than that of Lingnan.
The land of Bashu, a land of abundance, was formed during the Qin Dynasty, mainly after the Qin Dynasty destroyed the Six Kingdoms, and the remnants, wealthy people, merchants, and farmers from the Six Kingdoms immigrated and gradually developed.
After nearly a thousand years of development, a typical wealthy clan that integrates clan, power, wealth, and culture has formed. However, it is still far behind the clans of the Central Plains because they have geographical limitations.
After the founding of the Sui Dynasty, Yang Jian still continued the tradition of the Southern and Northern Dynasties and implemented an "avoidance" policy towards the Bashu region.
The meaning of this avoidance policy is that the imperial court does not use Bashu people when appointing people. Even if local officials appoint their left-wing officials, they do not use Bashu people. It can be regarded as completely blocking the upward path of the Bashu tycoons, in order to disintegrate local power.
They did not get involved in the political system at all, and the local wealthy families in Bashu were also declining day by day. Especially after Yang Xiu, the king of Shu, took over, he went on a killing spree and killed anyone who disobeyed. For twenty years, the Bashu area was completely ruled. It is obedient.
However, although they were convinced on the surface, they were still dissatisfied in their hearts, which led to the Sui Dynasty's tax policy being completely unable to be implemented in such a place controlled by a regional wealthy family.
The taxes collected in other places are getting more and more every year, but here since Yang Xiu was deposed, they are getting less and less.
Pei Ju disagreed with Li Hun's point of view and stood up and said: "The situation in Bashu is complicated. It will not be a day's work to improve it. It requires long-term planning. I believe that Jingzhou is the best place for this inspection."
With Pei Ju's shrewdness, he never thought that Yang Guang wanted to patrol Hebei.
This is normal. Hebei has become like that and is in the recovery stage. What should we check? Aren't you afraid that a few more high-achieving years will pop up?
Yang Guang brought the topic back to Bashu, frowned and said:
"The disease in Bashu has always worried me. I don't want to be appointed as the general manager anymore, but if things go on like this, the Bashu clan will become more and more unruly."
As early as the Kaihuang period, Yang Jian once said: Ba and Shu are dangerous and dangerous, and people like to cause chaos.
It means that the roads in this place are not easy to navigate, and the locals like to cause trouble.
So Yang Jian directly destroyed the official road from Guanzhong to Bashu, the Jiange Road, and opened up a better road to control Bashu.
Historically, because the chief officials of counties and counties in the Bashu region were low-ranking figures with no power or soldiers, the local wealthy families had the opportunity to recuperate and form a subtle peaceful relationship with the court, so there was the "late Sui Dynasty" "There are no bandits alone in Jiannan" means that this place was not involved in the great chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty.
Yang Ming also believes that the best way at the moment is to stabilize Bashu. Solving the problem of local wealthy families in Bashu that has been left for thousands of years will not be achieved in a day.
The best way is to send a dove-style elder to sit in Bashu and communicate with the local wealthy families to solve the tax problem. However, Yang Guangming showed his unwillingness to send such a feudal official, so there is no solution for the time being.
Su Wei stood up and said: "The taxation problem in Bashu requires capable ministers and wise officials to improve it. It is not appropriate to suppress the local area with a tough attitude. I think it is better to set up another general manager."
Niu Hong also agreed: "Seeing that the taxes in Bashu are getting less and less year by year, if this continues, it may become a stubborn disease. I think it is better to take the post of general manager sooner rather than later."
Yang Guang hesitated a little. From his point of view, he was definitely not willing to put a regional general manager in Bashu. This was a challenge to the imperial power.
Back then, Yang Jian didn't have this worry because he was releasing his own son. But now that Yang Guang has one son dead and the other a prince, who else can he send?
In this kind of place, if you are not a direct blood relative, you are definitely not at ease.
So after everyone discussed it for a long time, Yang Guang still didn't let go. The emperor's position was that it didn't matter if taxes were lower, but it couldn't affect the imperial power.
So Yang Guang said: "Let's discuss the issue of Bashu again, but Jingzhou is definitely not selected."
Okay, now it’s Yang Ming’s turn to take action. Just listen to him say:
"My son thought that the candidate was actually Hebei."
As soon as these words came out, many people were stunned. Pei Ju was also immersed in thought with a surprised look on his face, trying to figure out Yang Ming's thoughts. After a moment, he figured it out.
Is this because you want to default on your debt?
This time, the imperial court owed a huge amount of debt in Hebei, Shanxi, Henan, and Shandong, totaling 19 million guan, and Hebei exclusively owned 10 million.
It sounds like this amount of money is nothing to the entire country. The Yangzhou Mint plus the Guanzhong Mint can produce more than 10 million yuan a year, and the balance of the national treasury is not only this amount, it seems that it can easily Still on.
In fact, it's a big mistake. First of all, we need to understand that every expenditure of the imperial court has its own budget plan. How the money comes and how the money goes, there are arrangements for every transaction.
You cannot misappropriate any of them at will, otherwise there will be problems with the accounts.
The accounts of the imperial court are big ones, and cannot be settled by dozens of abacus.
For example, when Yang Guang wanted to build Jinyang Palace, Yu Wenshu reluctantly allocated one million from the Ministry of Civil Affairs despite the opposition of hundreds of officials. This million was still used to pay back Hebei.
And Hebei's shortfall is a full 10 million. Where can you allocate funds to repay this debt? The agreement signed by Yang Jian and Hebei was to be repaid in three years, with more than three million yuan to be repaid a year. These more than three million yuan were the court's debt deficit.
The imperial court has always been short of money, and the only way is to increase revenue and reduce expenditure. The Sui Dynasty determined that there are only two directions for increasing revenue, one is for aristocratic families, and the other is for common people.
Don't expect to save money. Yang Guang just said that it is impossible for you to expect him to save money, and the aristocratic family will not save money.
Yang Guang, in a unique way, chose a deadbeat between increasing revenue and reducing expenditure.
Pei Ju was amazed in his heart and quickly stood up and echoed:
"I agree with the prince's suggestion. The losses in Hebei this time are too heavy. There is no accurate number of casualties yet. How many were killed and injured? How many were outflows? How many were relocated? How many are still in their original places? It is very necessary for the court to verify clearly."
This is a very tenable reason. There is no mention of tax inspection, but tax inspection is indispensable in every sentence.
Because people are taxes.
Lu Chu would definitely not be happy. He didn't even know the registered population of the entire Fan Yanglu family, but it must be a huge number, because his branch alone had concealed at least 20,000 to 30,000 people.
And he can be sure that if his hometown is in chaos and the family has suffered a lot of blood, he will definitely find a way to make up for it. The way to make up for it must be to make plans for the dead population. The men's version was changed to "no man" because women are also half-taxed.
Lu Chu said: "I think that I can go anywhere for inspection, but I can't go to Hebei. Hebei is currently a disaster place in the world. The common people of the family are spending too much, so it is not appropriate to increase the burden."
"Lu Zhongshu was worried too much. He didn't mean to put more burden on Hebei," Pei Ju said with a smile: "It just needs to be thoroughly investigated to see how much Hebei's losses are this time, so that the court can formulate policies to appease it based on the situation."
Lu Chu cursed in his heart, what the hell do you want to do, you think I don't know, don't say it so grandly, and you haven't even paid back the money yet? Want to pluck our hair again?
"The losses in Hebei have been reported by local officials. Although there are definitely some differences from the actual situation, they should not be significant. There is no need to spend a lot of time in Hebei."
Yang Ming directly raised his hand and said: "Of course it is necessary. Shouldn't the imperial court investigate the current situation in Hebei clearly? The local losses are too heavy, and the chief officials must bear the responsibility. Therefore, the official reports from these localities must be very watery, and so is the imperial court. In order to find out the true situation, there is no need for Lu Zhongshu to react so strongly."
Lu Chu didn't dare to speak anymore. He still had to give the prince's face, and he also expected Yang Ming to act as a backer for him. Otherwise, he, a Hebei native, would not be able to stand firm in the province of Neishi.
As for Cui Hongsheng, who was also born in Hebei, although he was scolding in his heart, he did not choose to speak out.
Because the emperor had just released his younger brother Cui Hongjun, it would be somewhat disrespectful for him to speak out at this time.
As for the rest, most of them are from Guanzhong, and patrolling Hebei has nothing to do with us. Moreover, Yang Mingchu became the crown prince, so don't go against others at this time.
So more and more people came forward to support Yang Ming's suggestion.
Yang Guang nodded, looked at Yang Ming and said:
"Who does the prince think is appropriate for this inspection?"
Yang Ming stood up and said: "Household registration has always been under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The new Minister Cui Zhongfang has not yet arrived in Beijing. The minister Cui Jin is old. I thought that with Pei Yun, the minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, as the inspection envoy, Sili Taibie drove Yang Wei, Wei Fuzi is the deputy envoy, the best."
A third-grade (deputy-level) Minister of Civil Affairs, plus a clan member and Jing Zhaowei, this lineup is enough.
Yang Guang nodded and said: "As per the prince's request."
