The Sifu Teahouse in Tielu Lane, Dongcheng City, was built. The clouds of war were far from dissipating. In the afternoon, a large number of people who followed current events gathered in the teahouse to drink tea and exchange various gossips.
The second floor was even more crowded and there were even arguments.
"Xichuan Magistrate Yu Lian, County Magistrate Zhou Li and others are really big thieves - think about it, how many people have starved to death over the years, how many people have been desperate and took risks, and how many years have the Dongting Lake bandits ravaged the place before they were finally pacified? Just think about it.
Just a few of them have embezzled four million kilograms of official food. If they don’t kill them, the people will not be angry. The imperial court actually made a fuss. How can they deal with the hungry people who are starving to death on the roadside?"
"Tsk - childish. You also know Yu Lian, the crime committed by Zhou Li is not a pity, even confiscation of the family and annihilation of the clan, but why does the court still show mercy? Have you ever thought about the reason? Do you really think that the current saint is stupid?
Will you show mercy to the moths that are harmful to the country?"
"It's not that the imperial court is stupid, but what's the reason behind this? You are secretive and weird, but you don't explain it clearly. What do you want the people of the world to think about?"
"What's the reason? As long as you are not blind, you can see how miserable the gentry in Beijing and Xiangyang are - whether they are serving the imperial court or resisting the barbarians, any of them has frowned once, or that none of them has paid less.
A grain of grain? The generals are working hard in the front, the people are cultivating the fields and paying for the food, and the gentry is managing the country and the place. Everyone is doing their job, so why should the barbarians be afraid? However, there are so many fields and houses that the Jin gentry clan has saved through hard work for generations.
If someone is robbed, they will be robbed. Whoever dares to say anything wrong will be accused of collaborating with the enemy and brutally persecuted. What kind of world is this? In the case of stealing and selling official grain in Xichuan, Yu, Zhou and others did not want to see the Xichuan gentry being bullied too harshly.
, I just said a few fair words, but suffered such a disaster, but some people were fooled, and they really thought they had committed such a big crime!"
"Do you have any basis for what you said?"
"What does it mean to have evidence? Have you not seen how many gentry from Nanyang and Xiangyang have been forced to abandon their fields and homes and flee to build Ye in the past two years?"
Zheng Tu was sitting in the private room of Sifu Teahouse, listening to the quarrels outside, with a bad breath in his chest, and his face was livid and ugly. Unexpectedly, it had only been two days since the Ministry of Punishment in Dali Temple convicted Yu Lian, Zhou Li and others.
Unfavorable rumors about Beijing and Xiang have spread throughout the city.
"That group of people had to rely on the envoy to guard Beijing and Xiangzhou, but they couldn't make the envoy happy. They could only use such despicable methods behind their backs - they only had this trick, so don't worry about it."
Jin Longquan waved his hand, signaling to Zheng Tumo that he would be angry over such a thing, and that he had leaked the information about their secret meeting here.
"Fuck these dogs, one day we have to punish them!" Zheng Tu spat out the window fiercely, suppressing the bad breath in his chest.
"That grandson has sores on his mouth and spits indiscriminately. Fuck your master, he spit on your master's face!" Someone yelled and cursed on the long street.
Zheng Tu shrank his head and said nothing. After the man who had been shouting and cursing outside the window left, he asked Jin Longquan:
"The memorial arrived in the capital the day before, and the news must have spread among the courtiers. Is there any movement around Chen Zhuangchen?"
"I have already figured out their mentality. In the face of the barbarians, they have to rely on the envoy to defend themselves against the enemy, but they always want to create obstacles in the dark," Jin Longquan sighed. "When the business group went to Dali as an envoy, I heard that Jin
Zhuang Chen heard the news from Wei Chujun. Yesterday, officials summoned Prime Minister Zhu Hang to Chui Gong Hall to inquire about Dali's diplomatic relations. At that time, only Wang Boqian and Yang Maoyan were present. However, Prime Minister Zhu Hang took the initiative to mention the memorial.
Regarding the matter, they advocated that the imperial court should formally send envoys to meet with the business groups, carry credentials to Tong Dali, and request Dali to facilitate the matter; Wang Boqian and Yang Maoyan advocated that the memorial should be kept in China..."
"Liu Zhong? Don't you blame Jingxiang for sending merchant groups to Dali?" Zheng Tu asked doubtfully.
Zhu Hang advocated that the imperial court send an envoy to the country, hoping that the imperial court would seize the initiative to negotiate with the Dali Kingdom to meet the Khitan advance troops going south. Zheng Tu was not surprised. This was also what the director could predict, but he did not expect Wang Boqian and Yang Maoyan.
He advocated keeping the memorial "in the center".
The so-called "retention" means to keep the memorial in the forbidden area without submitting it for discussion or criticism.
To put it bluntly, the imperial court will not interfere with the unauthorized dispatch of business groups from Beijing to Xiangzhou, and will not even issue an order to stop it for the time being. However, the various consequences of the unauthorized dispatch of business groups and even forced entry into the territory of Dali may be related to Dali's domestic production????
If a bloody conflict occurs, all the responsibilities must be borne by Jing and Xiang. It cannot be ruled out that the court will eventually use this matter to question Jing and Xiang's culpability.
Just as Jin Longquan said, Wang Boqian, Yang Maoyan and others had to rely on Jingxiang to resist the enemies of Heluo and Jingxi at this time, but they would always be on high alert for Jingxiang and would secretly stumble whenever they had the opportunity.
Suppress the reputation of Jingxiang from all aspects, and even wait for every opportunity to weaken the power of Jingxiang.
"Wang and Yang and the officials still don't believe that the Chihu people will attack Dali with a partial force, and they suspect that the emperor has other plans for this move," Jin Longquan said with a frown, "and because of the New Deal and other matters, most of the courtiers are not convinced
Jingxiang is also watching with cold eyes, but in the final analysis they are mostly people who follow the trend of the enemy. As long as you can block the offensive of the Japanese soldiers this autumn and winter, or if you can mobilize more than 200,000 troops in Jingxiang, the situation in the DPRK will inevitably happen.
Change……"
The most severe pressure on Chushan was when Yang Lin was killed in Ruyang. Zuo Xiaosheng's army withdrew to Xiangyang to rest and recuperate. Chushan alone blocked the west of Beijing. The enemies of Heluo were unable to control the 60 to 70% of young men under their control.
Among the levied troops, we could barely scrape together 100,000 soldiers and horses, and stationed them in the three states of Ru, Cai, and Shen.
At that time, in addition to maximizing military potential, they also wanted to break apart every grain of food. However, with such intensity of mobilization, Chushan could only sustain it for three or four months. With the arrival of the flood season, western Beijing, He
The enemies of Luo gradually withdrew their troops and lifted the confrontation. Chushan could not wait to lift the mobilization order, disbanded some of his troops and returned to the countryside.
This shows how costly it is to maintain a large enough elite force in this world.
The West Qin Road and Dongchuan Road maintained a total of about 150,000 troops, but the financial resources of the entire Sichuan and Shu regions were insufficient to support them. They had to raise iron money on a large scale to purchase supplies and maintain huge expenses.
Huaidong and Huaixi maintain a total of 250,000 troops (including the returned German troops recruited from Dongjing). In addition to the entire Huainan area, the imperial court will also maintain troops from Liangjiang, Liangzhejiang, Lianghu and Guangnan East Road.
, one-third of the taxes collected from Guangnan West Road and Fujian Road were maintained.
In addition, there are about 100,000 troops in the Imperial Guard and the garrison and navy along the river. The annual military salary and merit rewards alone are as high as tens of millions of dollars.
In the eyes of many people, although Xu Huai successfully forced the court to merge the four counties of Nanyang, Xiangyang, and Jingbei into Chushan and formally established the Jingxiang Road, the court also omitted the additional payment; thinking that excluding Nanyang and Xiangyang, the total number of
In addition to the 30,000-scale government army, Jingxiang can also mobilize 70,000 to 80,000 elite soldiers and horses, which is already the limit and cannot be maintained for too long.
Therefore, in the eyes of many people, due to the current situation, the imperial court had to rely on Jingxiang to resist the enemies of Heluo and Jingxi, ensuring that the middle road was worry-free, and there was no need to be too afraid of Jingxiang; they even felt that the imperial court was not too afraid of Jingxiang.
Forbearance is only temporary. As long as the Red Hu people's offensive is contained, sooner or later the imperial court will seize military power in Beijing and Xiangzhou.
After all, the imperial court maintained a total of more than 500,000 standing troops outside Beijing and Xiangzhou.
Although Jin Longquan has always been lurking in the dark and has never really come to the forefront, he witnessed the rise of everyone in Tongbai Mountain in his early years, and was later ordered to lurk next to Jin Zhuangchen, and contacted him through Jin Zhuangchen, who was the Minister of Rites.
When it comes to information about all aspects of the government and the public, my horizons are no longer what they used to be.
Even because of his special mission and latent position, he had a clearer and clearer judgment on the various aspects of Jianye and the new policies implemented by Chushan.
The current expenditures in Jingxiang’s accounts do not seem to be large, with the converted money amounting to about 700,000 to 800,000 yuan per month. However, Jingxiang insists on two points:
First, the unified purchase and sale of grain in the jurisdiction is completely implemented. Second, private casting of iron money and the inflow of other subway money are strictly prohibited. Only silver ingots, silver coins and copper coins are allowed to circulate in the market.
Combined with policies such as rent restrictions and tenancy restrictions, Jingxiang Road successfully reduced the price of food in the area to the level before the Chihu people invaded the south.
At present, grain is the main price benchmark. The price of grain is low, and the prices of tea, iron, cloth, salt, etc. are also low. Since Beijing and Xiangzhou strictly prohibit the circulation of iron money and Jiaozi, other places cannot pass the indiscriminately cast and printed iron money, Jiaozi, etc.
Beijing and Xiangzhou purchase cheap supplies.
This makes the figures reflected in the accounts of all Beijing and Xiangxi expenditures much lower.
To put it in the simplest and clearest way, money in Beijing and Xiangzhou is more valuable.
In addition, the Beijing-Xiangzheng campaign did not occupy any private land and implemented large-scale farming. This not only ensured the supply of military food to a certain extent, but more importantly, it stored a large number of mobilizable reserve troops and horses at an extremely low cost; and as long as the war required
, the cost of mobilizing these reserves and recruiting troops is extremely low.
Therefore, the current internal estimated mobilization capacity of Beijing and Xiangyang, excluding the Nanyang and Xiangyang prefectural armies, may expand the active military strength to 200,000.
At present, Jingxiang needs to seize all the time to carry out construction, and there is no need to carry out such a large-scale mobilization. However, after autumn this year, the Chihu people gathered an army to invade Rucai and other places. Jingxiang had to carry out large-scale mobilization to mobilize the two
When one hundred thousand soldiers and horses fill the Yishui-Jishan-Rushui defense line, the true military strength will be revealed.
At that time, will there be some subtle changes in the mentality of some courtiers?
In Jin Longquan's view, this is almost certain.
The vast majority of people are inherently bully and afraid of the hard.
At least today's nonsense in tea houses to slander Jing and Xiang will never be so rampant again.
