The two things that gave Murong Xue a headache were the Yuzhou governor's request to manage the Jinhe main road project; the other was the regulations regarding the promotion of Feng Yiwei to the commander-in-chief of the Long Sword Army.
Objectively speaking, it is indeed no small matter.
The governor of Yuzhou was the first local official replaced by Xie Guang after he came to Luoyi, and he was naturally his closest confidant.
This time, the governor of Yuzhou proposed to manage Jinhe. The purpose behind it was not simple.
Since ancient times, the construction of water conservancy projects has always been an important task in governing the country, especially water control in the Jinhe River. If it is done well, it will bring decades or hundreds of years of smooth weather, peace and prosperity for the country and the people. But if it is not done well, natural and man-made disasters will come one after another.
The water conservancy projects in Shengtang were generally in charge of the Ministry of Works under the governance of Shangshu Province, and the Ministry of Works yamen specifically established the position of Yuanwailang of the Ministry of Water, responsible for supervising the construction of water conservancy projects in various states and counties.
However, the Yuzhou governor's proposal was not an ordinary waterworks project. Instead, he hoped for the approval of the imperial court to implement the management of the entire Jinhe main channel.
The so-called main channel refers to the main channel of Jinhe River that is more than 5,000 miles long and more than 100 feet wide. The Jinhe River has a developed water system and abundant flow. It passes through the twelve northern states of the Holy Tang Dynasty. It involves various issues such as farmland irrigation, public drinking water, navigation and water transportation, flood disasters, etc., and is related to the livelihood of millions of people.
However, managing the main road was a huge problem at that time.
Due to the huge size of Jinhe, the projects involved often require countless funds, materials and manpower, and even require the mobilization of a large number of troops to participate.
Therefore, without a prosperous age and a thousand-year-old emperor, the imperial courts of all dynasties would not dare to easily initiate the issue of regulating the main channel of the Jinhe River. In the history before the Holy Tang Dynasty, there were almost countless examples of blind large-scale construction of water conservancy projects that destabilized the country, wasted people and money, and even triggered civil uprisings.
At the same time, once the imperial court approves the launch of the Jinhe Main Road Management Project, the officials who are fully responsible for this matter can instantly control nearly half of the national resources of the dynasty and become powerful in both the government and the opposition.
In view of this, Murong Xue believed that this memorial from the governor of Yuzhou was tailor-made for Xie Guang.
In terms of official position, qualifications, and status, who in the DPRK can compete with Taifu Xie for the "Governor of the Jinhe Project" which is equivalent to the position of "Grand Sikong"?
Once Xie Guang is allowed to preside over the entire construction project, he will not only be able to gain more substantial power, but he can also take advantage of the situation to contain all the soldiers and young adults in various states and counties in his own hands to regain the Ghost Desert in Western Xinjiang. The war will inevitably become elusive.
For Murong Xue, the construction of the Jinhe Main Road must not be implemented, at least not when Xie Guangzheng is in power.
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The construction of the Jinhe main road was something Murong Xue had to resist. On the contrary, another matter was obstructed by Xie Guang and Lao Jianhua in every possible way.
At the beginning, the Long Sword Legion was ordered to set off. Not long after they arrived at the two passes, the Imperial Capital had the idea of replacing Feng Yiwei.
It's no wonder that during the Imperial Capital Incident, the Chang Sword Army's position was quite ambiguous. Although they did not directly support Xie Guang's rebellion, they already posed a great threat to the imperial court. It is imperative to remove Feng Yiwei and cut off Xie Guang's wings.
However, Li Chengwu considered that the situation in Western Xinjiang was tense at that time, the next move of the Turkic army was unknown, and changing the commander before the battle was very detrimental to the country and the army, so after discussing with the old general Xu Lie, he decided to let the matter go for the time being.
Now, the imperial court saw that the Changdao Legion had successfully entered the two passes, and the defense system against the northern and southern Turkic camps had been completed, so it took up the idea of Commander Feng again.
As soon as Xie Guang received the official document from Luoyi from the imperial capital to be submitted to the prince for review regarding the replacement of the commander-in-chief of the Long Sword Army, he immediately secretly thought something was wrong. While secretly suppressing the memorial and not sending it to the East Palace, he secretly contacted the Turkic Temple Prince Roniya through Lao Jianhua's channel.
Not long after, the Turkic army stationed on the front lines of the two passes suddenly mobilized on a large scale and carried out military exercises outside Zijin Pass and Shengyuguan. The scene was extremely terrifying.
Guan Zhan, the deputy governor of Zhenjiang who was stationed at Zijin Pass, was so frightened that he sent out twelve emergency military reports in a day. He was afraid that his Zhenjiang Army and Feng Yiwei's Long Sword Army would not be able to withstand the sudden attack of the other side, so he asked the court to send troops quickly. reinforce.
When Li Chengwu, who was in the imperial capital, saw this situation, he suddenly felt helpless and had to temporarily give up the idea of replacing Feng Yiwei and continue to observe the situation.
Unexpectedly, more than two months have passed in the blink of an eye. Except for the earth-shattering military exercise before, there has been no other movement from the Turks. It is obvious that they do not want to further expand the war. The Imperial Capital finally felt relieved and brought up the matter of changing generals again.
This time, Xie Guang couldn't play the same tricks as before.
Let's not talk about whether the court will be frightened by the tense situation on the front line again. Let's talk about the Prince of the Turkic Temple. He is not Xie Guang's biological father. You can do whatever you want. Do you think a hundred thousand troops will be dispatched once?
The Turks were extremely benevolent and stopped helping. The terms of "planning to be promoted to the post of Lieutenant Feng Yiwei and returning to the capital to assist His Majesty in advising on various military matters" were soon placed in front of Prince Li Bing, who was in charge of the military and supervision of the country.
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This time Li Bing presided over the court discussion. These two major events touched the heartstrings of both Imperial Capital and Xie Guang respectively. A fierce intrigue was inevitable.
Li Bing weighed the two memorials in his hand, and as soon as he asked the ministers present for their opinions, the governor of Yuzhou jumped out first, holding a large pile of various "petitions" and started talking non-stop. .
According to the report of the governor, these petitions came from the people of various counties on both sides of the Jinhe River. They eagerly hoped that His Highness the Crown Prince would approve the memorial to manage the main road of the Jinhe River and benefit the people in all directions.
Prince Li Bing casually looked through the letters piled into a small mountain and remained silent.
Seeing this, Lao Jianhua took the opportunity to step forward and add another handful of firewood: "Your Highness, according to the information reported to the Ministry of Works by the water management offices of various places, the flood season on the main road of Jinhe this year is slightly earlier than in previous years; and the Qintian Supervisor It is also predicted that as the stars change and the moon shadow overlaps the sun, the next two years will be a year of great tides, which will affect all major rivers in the country and cause water levels to rise, especially the main Jinhe River. Therefore, The improvement project of the Jinhe main road really needs no delay.”
As he said this, he secretly glanced at the governor of Yuzhou.
The governor understood what he meant and bowed down again: "Your Highness, for the sake of the country and the country of our Holy Tang Dynasty, and for the people of Li to live and work in peace and contentment, I ask Your Highness to sanction the Golden River Project!"
Li Bing raised his head and said calmly: "Stop kneeling all the time, stand up and discuss things properly. Murong Xue, what do you think about this matter?"
"Your Majesty, I do not agree with the proposal of the Yuzhou Governor." Murong Xue said: "A few days ago, I wrote to the Minister of Finance to ask the opinions of the adults in the imperial capital for this matter. However, I got the full response from Mr. Lao and the Governor. Different replies.”
"Oh? What did the Imperial Capital say?" Li Bing asked with interest.
Murong Xue answered calmly: "First of all, it is the reply from the Ministry of Revenue. Although the Huaihe and Huaihe regions had a great harvest last year, serious disasters occurred in Longyou Road, Henan Road and Guannai Road, resulting in a reduction in grain production; there was also a disaster in Jiannan Road The earthquake caused nearly 100,000 victims. Coupled with the rebellion in Western Xinjiang, the imperial court not only suddenly lost the two major inputs of tariffs and foreign trade from the Silk Road trade route, but also the pensions for the fallen soldiers of the Zhenjiang Protectorate and the Blade Legion. , as well as the deployment and defense of the Long Sword Legion, both cost a lot of money. Your Highness knows that the relief of victims and military expenditures alone took away 12 million yuan from the national treasury in an instant. This is almost the amount of tax revenue in the past six months. .”
Hearing this, Li Bing couldn't help but frowned: "There are so many? So how much money is left in the treasury?"
"The reserves of the imperial treasury are probably more than 30 million yuan. In order to cope with various unpredictable crises, the adults in the Ministry of Household Affairs will never dare to agree to large expenditures again." Murong Xue paused for a moment and continued. Said: "In addition, there is the opinion of the Ministry of Industry. Mr. Qiao, the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, personally wrote a letter to the minister, giving a detailed introduction to the dredging and reinforcement project of the Jinhe tributary that he has presided over since he took office six years ago. Mr. Qiao believes that at present, There is absolutely no need to carry out large-scale construction projects to control the main road of Jinhe River."
Hearing this, Lao Jianhua couldn't help but cough lightly, and before Prince Li Bing spoke, he retorted: "What Lord Murong said is wrong. Everyone knows that the Ministry of Household Affairs always likes to cry about poverty, no matter how rich they are. , they are also like iron roosters and misers, easily refusing to let go of spending. In fact, this is lazy government. The court's taxation method is based on rent and mediocrity. In addition, the emperor promotes rule by doing nothing and lowers the tax rate many times, which leads to what the people should do. The tax has been unable to be collected, which makes the national treasury empty, and it is stretched when there is a slight change. Now, the Holy Tang Kingdom has been in Zuo for 800 years, and the wealth has been stored in the people for a long time. We can completely imitate the ancestral system and reopen the river established by the sixteen emperors. The donation will be used exclusively for the Jin River Project. Your Highness, according to my calculations, just the twelve states along the river can basically guarantee all the required expenses."
"Lord Lao is telling a joke," Murong Xue snorted coldly: "Most of the twelve states along the river were on last year's disaster list, and the people's livelihood conditions are not optimistic. The imperial court is too late to provide relief, and now we have to add more to them. Aren't you afraid of provoking civil unrest if you pay taxes to He?"
Not to be outdone, Lao Jianhua replied: "Mr. Murong, according to your statement, a small increase in taxes can trigger a popular uprising, so what do you need the court and the army to do?"
Murong Xue argued with reason: "Okay, even if you can suppress people's complaints and start collecting river donations. But don't forget that the budget for river control projects in the past dynasties has always been increasing. Once implemented, it will eventually involve donations. The prefectures and counties must be far more than the twelve prefectures, but all over the country. At that time, if troops are needed in Western Xinjiang, where will the military funds come from? "
Xie Guang, who had been silent all this time, now spoke: "Murong Zhanshi, you mean that as long as the Guimo Desert in Western Xinjiang becomes unstable, we will not be able to do anything serious for a day, and the entire Shengtang will stare blankly. Wait, right?”
"I don't mean this!" Murong Xue said angrily: "Master Taifu, please don't misinterpret my thoughts."
Xie Guang asked calmly: "Then what do you mean? You always use the war in Western Xinjiang as an excuse. You know, even the emperor has no clear will to deal with the problem in Western Xinjiang. Our army will fight with the Turks It is a well-known basic judgment that we have been in a confrontation for a long time. His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince, supervises the country and is in charge of people's livelihood and government affairs. He needs to make one or two great achievements that will last forever in order to establish the credibility of the imperial authority. What are your intentions in obstructing him in every possible way? "
Murong Xue was not afraid of Xie Guang's questioning and said tit for tat: "His Royal Highness is a wise crown prince. If you want to establish prestige and create great achievements, you don't have to waste time. The sage said: Managing a big country is like cooking small dishes. The more you master, the more you master it. As a country and a country, it is more important to assess the situation and tread on thin ice. Now that the foreign troubles in Western Xinjiang have not been eliminated, it is difficult to say that everything is ready for the right time, location, and people, so rashly launching a huge project is like galloping into an abyss, surrounded by dangers. Mr. Xie, we are doing this As a minister, shouldn’t you remind Your Highness to be cautious and decisive in everything you do?”
Lao Jianhua sneered and retorted on behalf of Xie Guang: "Mr. Murong still failed to understand what Tai Tu meant. Instead, he secretly changed the concept to confuse the Holy Master. Although the foreign troubles in Ghost Desert in Western Xinjiang have not been completely eliminated, they have also entered. A period of relative stability. In the current situation, it is time to shift our energy from military affairs to the construction of the Holy Tang. This is the so-called 'timing time'. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Mr. Xie are in Luoyi, the eastern capital, close to the main road of Jinhe River. Supervising the management project has the advantage of "geographical convenience". The people of the twelve states along the river petitioned the governor of Yuzhou, hoping to regulate the river as soon as possible. What else can this be if it is not "humanity"? The right time, the right place and the right people are all in our hands, and the funds are in our hands. There is no big problem with the protection of labor, so why can’t we start now to create this great achievement that benefits the country and the people?”
Li Bing was a little moved by Lao Jianhua's words. He nodded slightly and said: "What Lao Ai said makes sense. We should really make use of the current conditions to make a difference. We cannot lose Western Xinjiang and have domestic affairs at the same time." It’s not done well.”
