Governance and stewardship have a lot in common. For example, if there is a big event going on at home, the family's food and clothing expenses will definitely become relatively tight. We will wait until the event is completed to recover, and if there is any profit, the whole family will share it.
The growing strength of the Jing Dynasty in the past forty years was not only due to political stability, but also inseparable from forty years of blood-sucking from the barbarian territories.
Don't think that the slave trade only cost the slave caravans and the common people did not benefit, but in fact this is not the case. The huge profits from the slave trade were also taxed extremely high by the Jing Dynasty, even two to three times the general commercial tax. These taxes and fees are not paid directly to officials as benefits, but are used to offset agricultural taxes in some areas and build some public facilities, such as canals, wells, dams, etc.
Because the base is the largest, the dividends paid to the common people will be less obvious. On the contrary, those with high-end and red walls will be able to enjoy them more generously.
Now that the war in the south has begun, Zuo Yuliang led the Chinese army headquarters to move forward to station in Wuhu, moving the war forward again. The first string that was moved was "logistics."
To put it bluntly, logistics is money and food. These are managed by the Ministry of Revenue and exist in the national treasury and official warehouses in various places.
There used to be serious fraud and favoritism in the official warehouses. The rectification movement launched by the Xuanqing Guards led to a rectification movement. The civil service group was forced to draw lots to deal with a large number of lower-level officials. It has not been long now, so The lingering power of the rectification movement was not enough to make Guancang look bad again, so Guancang responded quickly during the war and not many people fell behind.
The collected food, spiritual stones, and military pay can currently be provided. Ordnance and consumables are relatively difficult, but there is still a lot of stock in normal times. Part of the inventory is consumed and part of the output is worked overtime, which can barely keep up. At present, the Ministry of Household Affairs has urgently coordinated hundreds of blacksmith shops to prepare to expand the production of ordnance to cope with the huge consumption in the future.
But compared to supplies such as ordnance and spiritual stones, food is the most difficult to solve. Because food is not like ore that you can dig up, but it takes a fixed period of time to slowly grow from the ground. And everyone needs it, not just to supply the military. Therefore, food has the largest inventory, but it is also the largest and fastest consumed.
The situation that Yang Yansi predicted was actually very accurate. He has a thorough understanding of the inventory system established by the Ministry of Revenue over the years. Although he does not know the specific figures, judging from the current situation in the south, there is probably no problem at all.
Since late August, the southern frontier army has gathered more than 500,000 troops. The food stocks of Tanshi and Haixia are being consumed by people, horses and horses, as well as the long supply lines. It is conservatively estimated that the food stocks in these two places are at most 100%. It will be exhausted by the end of November.
Then it is necessary to consume the grain stored in official warehouses in various places. In fact, the Ministry of Finance is already making preparations for this. Official warehouses in various places are continuously transporting grain to Tanshi and Haixia for transfer in advance. At the same time, the official warehouse system of the entire household department is undergoing frequent changes in order to meet the needs of the front line most efficiently in the following days. .
At the end of October, a batch of new grain will be produced across the country and enter the storage stage, and this is a very important node, because starting from this batch of grain, the Jingjiu Dynasty will officially enter a state of comprehensive austerity, especially grain. Instead of sending the rest of the small stock of grain collected to public and private grain stores according to the previous share, wartime rules will be used to distribute grain to various cities in the form of rations.
At the beginning, ordinary people will not feel anything, because even if the rationing is not tightened to the limit all at once, it will be tightened slowly by one or two minutes, and it will last for several months before it really becomes The point where each household counts purchases per person. Of course, if the battle ahead goes smoothly, it is possible that the food control strategy will not go as far as this step.
The hardest hit are private grain merchants everywhere. Once the food shortage started, they basically stopped their business, and even now they can no longer hold on to the grain stocks in their hands. The Ministry of Household Affairs will forcefully purchase the grain stocks in their hands at the average market price, so that they do not lose money, which is considered benevolent and righteous. Still want to make money? Go in your dreams.
But the largest grain merchant was "Tea" among the five imperial merchants.
The main revenue scope of "Tea" is tea and grain. Half of the tea in the Jingjiu Dynasty was in their hands, and 30% of the private grain merchants were from them. Nowadays, the food policy is tightening, and "tea" has undoubtedly been hit the hardest. Indirectly, it "hurt" the small group of people behind "Tea". You won't be able to sit back and wait, there will definitely be struggles or obstacles.
These problems all directly fell on Bai Changqing, the Minister of Household Affairs.
Since the war in the south resumed, and the counterattack prepared by the civil servants was directly suppressed by Xuanqingwei and they lost their right to speak, the entire civil servant group was inevitably driven by the general trend and embarked on a "downhill road."
The military's arrogance is now showing signs of turning over and stepping on the heads of civilian officials. Other places may not feel it deeply, but Hubu has been in direct contact with the Ministry of War and feels it particularly clearly.
In the past, everyone who came to the Ministry of War to report military supplies was very careful for fear of being caught in the wrong shoes, but now a small flag officer is sent to deliver the note, and the attitude is tough, saying that he will get as much as he wants. As for the difficulty of raising money, who is in charge of the Ministry of War? thing? Can't you solve it if your household department is just a job?
And I really don’t dare to delay too much. The front line is tight. If we lose the battle and lose key places due to material problems, then the responsibility will definitely fall on the Ministry of Finance first, and Bai Changqing will definitely be the first to lose his head.
In wartime, everything must make way for the troops on the front line!
This piled up countless worries and troubles for Bai Changqing, the Minister of Household Affairs. The pressure has never been greater since he took office.
The other chores were all fine. At most, I had to grind them a few more times and urge them a few more times. It was amazing that I just let my servants scare me and push things forward. But the food tightening strategy we are facing now is really difficult to handle!
There have been rumors for a long time, but it has not officially started yet. Moreover, similar strategies have been introduced in previous wars with barbarians. The difference is that the degree of implementation of the tightening strategy is different each time, which is affected by the battle situation. If the front is well played, the inside will not be too tight. If the front is not played well, it will be so tight that only one breath is left.
But even before the tightening officially started, all kinds of "greetings" and "goodwill" came to Bai Changqing. Even Left Prime Minister Ye Lansheng gave him some subtle hints, but Bai Changqing pretended to be confused and got past them.
But how long can it last? You have to make a decision, right? When the time comes, how do you choose?
