After Gao Yongshi and Wang Tingzhuan had just finished discussing some matters that were not humane to outsiders, Xiong Tingbi's voice came from outside: "Enxiang, Entang, the tea is ready." Although the words came, there was no sound of footsteps.
The two people inside looked at each other and smiled, and Wang Tingzhan whispered: "Although Fei Baixing is upright, he has a high level of understanding. However, I have often wondered recently how I discovered such a talent when I had never met him before. "
Gao pragmatic smiled, but did not answer. Instead, he ordered outside: "Fei Bai, there is no need to be polite. Now that the tea is ready, just bring it in." After saying this, he heard Xiong Tingbi respond and carry the tea tray from outside. Come in and start serving Enxiang and Entang to drink tea.
After doing all this, Xiong Tingbi stepped aside and stood in silence with his hands down. Gao pragmatic saw it, smiled and pointed to the seat next to him: "You are also a prime minister, so you don't have to be so restrained. Just sit down."
The so-called "preserver prime minister" is actually a flattering term. In the Ming Dynasty, people who passed the imperial examination and entered the Hanlin Academy as officials were generally regarded as "preserver prime ministers", which meant that these people would have the opportunity to become ministers of the cabinet in the future. It was mentioned before.
Xiong Tingbi bowed slightly to show respect, retreated to the seat aside, and sat down with half his buttocks, his attitude was still quite humble. Gao Pingshi saw it and nodded secretly in his heart. Xiong Tingbi had a problem in the original history, that is, he was a little arrogant based on his talent, but this was a major weakness in official circles. Now, through the "traineeship" by his side, his temperament seems to have changed a bit, which is indeed a good thing and will definitely help his future development.
The "private matters" have been discussed, and now that Xiong Tingbi is back, it's time to talk about business.
Gao pragmatic pondered for a moment, then said: "You two are not outsiders, so I will speak directly. Next, Liantang will take over as governor of Gansu, and will be fully responsible for the Western Expedition strategy when the preparations for the Western Expedition are almost completed. Regarding the affairs of this Western Expedition, Fei Bai is about to finish observing the government and will be appointed as the Supervisory Censor. A month later, he will be appointed as the Supervising Censor of Gansu Province and concurrently serve as the Supervisor of the Western Expedition."
Wang Tingzhuan raised his hand and said: "Since Yuanfu trusts me, Tingzhuan will do his best to conquer the remnants of the imperial court and bring peace to the Western Regions."
Xiong Tingbi then raised his hand and said: "Yuan Fu's trust is so deep that Tingbi is carrying a huge weight, but the country has a destiny, so how dare you refuse? Even if your talent is sparse and your knowledge is shallow, you should work hard to do it."
When Tingbi leaves, he must strictly enforce discipline, reward good deeds and punish bad deeds, so that those who have made merit will not be rewarded, and those who have made mistakes will not be allowed to escape blame. When he went to the Western Regions, Tingbi wanted to accompany the army on the march. Before the battle, he would do his best to restore the style of the Han and Tang Dynasties. "
Although the words of the two were just words for the occasion, Gao Pragmatic still nodded in approval. However, he did not come to listen to the two people expressing their determination, so he continued and wrote to Wang Ting first: "On leaving Liantang, there are three important things that must be handled urgently."
"Please give me Yuanfu's instructions." When it came to business, Wang Tingzhuan no longer called Gao Pragmatic "Rixin", but used the honorific title "Yuanfu".
Gao pragmatically said: "First, check the arrears of wages in Gansu over the years."
Wang Tingzhuan looked solemn and said: "Yuanfu has been in military affairs for a long time, so he naturally knows that the towns in our dynasty have been in arrears of pay for a long time and there are many reasons for it. This time I am patrolling Gansu, and I don't know where to investigate this matter. Years? If some of these things are difficult to find out, how should we deal with them? "
Wang Tingzhuan's words were somewhat veiled and too literary. In fact, there are only two things he wants to say: First, how long is the "pursuit period" for Gao Pragmatic's "inventory"? Going forward three to five years, ten or twenty years, or even longer?
Second, what should we do with some confusing accounts? Should we just forget about it, or should we find a way to end it completely?
Gao pragmatically said: "The inventory should be divided into two periods, before Wanli and after Wanli. Liantang, let me tell you here. How much of the wages owed before Wanli can you find out within three months? Try to find out as much as possible. , Try to find out as much as possible; no matter who is involved in the payment arrears after Wanli, let me get to the bottom of it!
There is no account of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War that I cannot count. I know best how much money has been allocated to Gansu over the years. It stands to reason that although the allocation received by Gansu is definitely not as large as that of Jiliao Xuanda, since the war against the Yuan Dynasty, the imperial court has also allocated two to three million taels to strengthen military equipment.
With so much money allocated, why did Burihatu lose Jiayuguan and Suzhou in a sneak attack, and even Ganzhou could only defend the city, but did not dare to take a step forward in the face of the Mongolian army?
To be honest, when I fought against the Mongols, I fought against them in field battles, and I won every single one of them! Why can I do it, but Gansu doesn't even dare to try? I think this is not just a problem of "one general is incompetent", but that the Gansu armies simply do not have the confidence to fight the Mongols in the field, and this lack of confidence must be related to the low morale caused by lack of pay.
Therefore, if this Western Expedition is to succeed, the problem of unpaid wages must first be resolved. If we cannot guarantee that the athletes of the Western Expedition will be fully paid, how can we expect them to be willing to march thousands of miles across deserts and Gobis to fight the Tatars to the death? This is the first major matter that you must solve after Liantang takes office, and there must be no mistakes. "
Wang Tingzhuan nodded, but did not respond - because Gao Pragmatic had obviously only said half of what he said, and he had not yet given instructions on the other half of the question.
Gao pragmatic calmed down his stern tone and said slowly: "As for some confusing accounts that are difficult to identify or difficult to identify in a short period of time, we can consider implementing a buyout."
"Buyout?" Wang Tingzhuan frowned slightly, showing suspicion, and asked, "What is a buyout?"
Gao Pangshi didn't understand the suspicious look on Wang Tingzhuan's face at first, but he immediately felt that something was wrong with his expression. Only then did he suddenly realize: the word "buyout" at this time meant the same thing as his later one. The meaning of "buyout" is...different.
At this time, "buyout" generally has two meanings, but both of them are related to women in pleasure. The first is when wealthy people pay to monopolize prostitutes for a long time. Sun Qi's "Beili Zhi·Wang Tuan'er" in the Tang Dynasty said: "The fruit is owned by the rich, and it will no longer be seen", and then he notes: "Most of the sons in the song are wealthy people who lose one to their mother every day, which is called Buy out. But it is still an official envoy, no longer just accepting guests."
The second type is to spend money to redeem the prostitute's life and get the official's approval to register. The eighth chapter of the opera "Little Sun Tu" written by Anonymous in the Yuan Dynasty says: "Today, we cherish the harmony, and Xie En's family spares no expense to buy out Hua Hua." Qian Nanyang's school note for this: "Buy, pay for her redemption; , after the official’s judgment, he will be allowed to register.”
Here, Gao Pragmatic actually made a common-sense mistake of the current era, but this is also related to the fact that he has always kept himself clean and has never been a prostitute. After all, I had never been in such an occasion, so I didn't expect the current meaning of the word "buyout" for a while.
"Ahem! That's not what I meant, but as far as the word 'buyout' is concerned, the meaning is somewhat similar." Gao Pragmatic explained dryly, and told Wang Ting the basic meaning of "buyout" for later generations. After hearing this, he added: "In short, it is to use a sum of money to write off the unexplainable salary arrears in the past."
Wang Tingzhuan also knew that Gao Jingshi never slept with prostitutes, so he quickly skipped the previous suspicions, thought along Gao Jingshi's train of thought, and then said with some embarrassment: "Yuan Fu, this matter... I'm afraid it's hard to talk about but hard to handle. . First of all, since those are confusing accounts that cannot be investigated, it is impossible to say how much is involved in every household or even every person. It is even difficult to tell how much it is. So what exactly is the 'buyout amount'? How much to set?
If the order is too much, the court will spend a lot of money; if it is too little, the relevant military households will feel that the court is deliberately trying to harm them. Moreover, it may be difficult to determine who is involved, and this bowl of water is too difficult to balance. I'm afraid that when the time comes, some people will get the 'buy-out silver' and some won't, and in the end we will end up worrying not about scarcity but about inequality..."
"Then it will be equal." Gao Pragmatic said decisively: "If it doesn't work, every military household in Gansu Town will pay the arrears at the same time. The amount can be less on average for each household, but it must be given."
Wang Tingzhuan continued to ask: "Is the money given per household or by mouth?" The "kou" he mentioned was "dingkou", which means an individual, that is to say, "on a per capita basis."
Gao pragmatic thought for a while and said: "Some military households may happen to have no one currently serving, but the court cannot forget them, so let's count them on a household basis."
Wang Tingzhuan mused: "As far as I know, the military posts in various places have been established for a long time, and the population is increasing day by day. In addition to the regular soldiers, there are six or seven soldiers, or even ten or twenty soldiers in each military household. . In this way, if you give silver per household, if you give too little, one person (person) will get less than one tael, but it is better than nothing; if you give too much, it will be detrimental to the government's finances..."
"You have the wrong idea." Gao Pragmatic waved his hand and said: "For you, the governor of Gansu, the only thing you can do now is live within your means. That is, you will distribute the amount to each household according to the amount given by the court, instead of first counting the number of households. How many households, then estimate the number and then go to the Ministry of Household Affairs to ask for money."
At this point, he stretched out two fingers and said categorically: "Two million taels, the Ministry of Accounts will separately allocate two million taels of silver to you to do this. No matter what the facts of those confusing accounts are, these two million taels You take both and distribute it to each military household equally - remember, this money cannot be wasted, and no civil or military officials are allowed to deduct it."
Gao pragmatic turned his head and said to Xiong Tingbi: "Fei Bai, if anyone wants to get involved in this money, just catch them for me. I'll kill one of them, and I'll kill two of them!"
Huh, the imperial army is about to gather in Gansu. I want to see who wants to use their heads to sacrifice the flag for my western expedition army. If the local officials are really not afraid of death, then I wouldn't mind building a palace with their heads before going on an expedition! "
What Gao Jingshi said made Wang Tingzhuan a little frightened, not because he wanted to make a fortune from it, but because he felt that Gao Jingshi's words were full of murderous intent, as if he was not determined to make a large sum of money, but determined to make a fortune. It's like killing people wantonly.
Xiong Tingbi's blood boiled when he heard that. He straightened his back immediately and said in an extremely firm tone: "Don't worry, Yuan Fu. Although Tingbi is a scholar, he is not afraid of killing people, let alone those who are killing corrupt officials? These rats are about to Everyone makes it clear that canonical punishment is the right way."
Very good, the young man is very energetic. However, Gao Pragmatic was not as severe as before at this time. He suddenly lost his murderous aura and said with a slight smile: "Okay, I will leave this matter to your supervision. This is exactly your duty."
Although Wang Tingzhuan was worried that this might cause dissatisfaction among local officials, considering what Gao Pragmatic said just now that "the imperial army is about to gather in Gansu", he was a little relieved and thought to himself: Yes, hundreds of thousands of troops will gather in Gansu by then. , who doesn’t have the foresight to dare to jump out and cause trouble at that time? I really think the neck is too hard, and I have to try to see if the emperor’s sword in the hand of Ben Jingtai is not sharp?
Anyway, Gao Pingshi said that he would be given "Additional Economic Strategy" in a few months, and the emperor must have nodded to this kind of thing, so he has now begun to regard himself as an economic planner. After all, the emperor will definitely give the Emperor the Sword by then. With the Emperor's Sword in hand, it is more intimidating than the general Fu army or even the army - during the battle to defeat the Yuan Dynasty without you seeing it, Meng Yuan's economic strategy was highly pragmatic and he used the authority of the Emperor's Sword to directly kill Li Song. Processed? That is the dignified Governor of Ji Liao!
[Note: Gao Pragmatic’s strategic military order at that time was: “Order Ma Lin, the commander of the Zijin Pass, to hold this strategic plan, Shang Fangjian, and lead three thousand riders southward to Gubeikou at starry night to ask and kill the garrison of Gubeikou; then go down to Miyun and relieve Jiliao Governor Li Songben is concurrently holding various positions, while Li Songzhun is staying idle pending investigation. In addition, Ma Lin, with a brief order, summons Li Ruhua, the censor of Shuntian, to Miyun, where he will temporarily control the army and wait for new orders from the court. This order will be implemented immediately. .”]
You should know that Gao Pangshi had not yet entered the cabinet at that time, but was only the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty manager who concurrently served as the Minister of Household Affairs. Although he is the governor of Gansu and also serves as an official, but considering that the Western Expedition is a major political event in the current government, it is estimated that even if he is not given the title of Minister of the Ministry of War, he should be given the title of censor of the right capital. So in terms of Cong level, Gao pragmatism is pretty much the same now.
Wang Tingzhuan breathed a sigh of relief and asked: "Yuan Fu said that there are three important things, but now he is just talking about one thing. I wonder what the other two things are?"
Seeing that he was going over the topic of checking the unpaid wages, Gao Pangshi knew that he had agreed, so he continued: "The second thing is to check the armaments of Gansu."
After a pause, he added: "What I mean by armament does not only refer to the ordnance, armor, firearms and other items carried by the officers and soldiers of the town, but also includes the border defense facilities that have been reinforced as required by the imperial government's allocations over the years. As for the warehouse inventory, that is even more Top priority.
In this inventory, firstly, you need to count the number, and secondly, you also need to clarify how many of them are usable and unusable. From now on, Fei Bai will be responsible for the accountability, and you will be mainly responsible for figuring out these data - I must fully understand the actual local data in Gansu, including soldiers, firearms, artillery, gunpowder, armor, grain, horses, camels, and carriages. Even the storage status of various materials ranging from tents to iron pots. "
Wang Tingzhuan swallowed quietly and said with a wry smile: "In the past, when I saw that Yuan Fu was victorious in every battle, I just thought that he used soldiers like a god. Now after listening to Yuan Fu's instructions, I realized that what he said in the Art of War was true, but ordinary people only read it. I don’t know the details behind the words at all.
The Art of War says: "Know yourself and the enemy, and you can fight a hundred battles without danger." It also says: "Those who were good at fighting in the past first made themselves invincible, and then waited for the enemy to become victorious." The invincible lies with oneself, but the victorious lies with the enemy'. But what is a 'confidant', and how many people have seriously thought about it? Now that I heard Yuan Fu's request, I realized how difficult it is to "know oneself". Tingzhuan learned a lesson. "
——
Thanks to book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your reward and support, thank you!
Thanks to book friends "GM Broken Bridge Misty Rain" and "doni" for their monthly support, thank you! [PS: I don’t know how to type the katakana in Yanyu’s ID, so I had to ignore it. Sorry. ]
(End of chapter)
