Jiangnan is a land of plenty and has always been prosperous. The annual grain, grass and taxes account for 60% of the Great Qin treasury. It can be said that Jiangnan feeds most of the people of Great Qin. Without the rich land of Jiangnan, the country and people of Great Qin would not be as prosperous and strong as it is now.
But it was precisely because of the wealth in Jiangnan that Jing Yan focused on that piece of land. The tax revenue in Jiangnan had declined in the past few years, but it was not obvious, and the Jiangnan area also gave a normal reason - natural disaster.
The Supreme Emperor, who was still the emperor at the time, sent people to investigate. It was found that the drop in tax revenue was indeed a natural disaster and not man-made, so the matter was revealed. Besides, the food submitted by Jiangnan was less, but the tax money was more. The Qin Dynasty had no shortage in the past few years.
There was a shortage of food but money. The emperor was very happy to receive more tax money, and the officials of the Ministry of Revenue were also happy.
Since this precedent was set, Jiangnan did not pay much food and grass in the next two years, but more and more taxes and money. In addition, the local officials in Jiangnan were generous, and they managed all the officials in the capital well, and reaped the benefits.
Many officials spoke for Jiangnan and also covered up this matter.
The Minister of the Ministry of Revenue also mentioned a few words to the Supreme Emperor, briefly explaining the reason why Jiangnan used silver to pay for grain. After hearing this, the Supreme Emperor didn't take it to heart. The grain of Da Qin was enough for them, but it was half a percent less.
The impact of the harvested grain is not big.
Officials from the Ministry of Revenue were also afraid at first that the food delivered by Jiangnan was getting less and less, and that Daqin would not have enough food. However, in the same year, officials from Jiangnan wrote a brochure, saying that thousands of acres of new land had been opened and a batch of land had been reserved.
If you sow grain, you will be able to produce twice as much grain next year.
After confirming that this matter was true, the officials in the capital felt at ease and did not take Jiangnan's lack of food seriously. And the next year, the land in Jiangnan was indeed opened and a lot of food was grown. At that time
Everyone in the court thought that Jiangnan would have a good harvest in the second year, but...
Their prediction was correct. There was indeed a good harvest in Jiangnan, and the grain amount was more than double that of previous years. However, that batch of grain did not enter the Great Qin treasury, but was snatched away by Jing Yan.
What's even more disgusting is that after Jing Yan took away the grain and grass, he also flooded the south of the Yangtze River. Now the court was not only unable to collect grain from the south of the Yangtze River, but also had to pull grain and grass to provide disaster relief.
Officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs knew about these matters, but Qin Jiyan did not.
Qin Jiyan knew what happened next. After all, Jiangnan was flooded and all the food relief operations happened in Qin Jiyan's hands. But in the past two years, Qin Jiyan was concerned about the fact that Jiangnan used money instead of food to hand over to the court.
Don't know at all.
In fact, it's not strange that Qin Jiyan didn't know about it. In the past few years, the six departments were all under the control of King Zhou, King Zhao and others. Qin Jiyan couldn't interfere at all, so it's normal that he didn't know.
But... Qin Jiyan could understand why the people in the Ministry of Hubu didn't report it to him at first, but after he ascended the throne, the Minister of Hubu still concealed the matter and didn't report it to him. It was really an unforgivable crime!
Qin Jiyan's eyes flashed with murderous intent so quickly that even the officials below didn't notice it.
The Minister of the Ministry of Finance kept talking for a long time, and after finishing speaking, he knelt down and waited for Qin Jiyan to speak, but after waiting for a long time, Qin Jiyan didn't speak. The Minister of the Ministry of Finance couldn't help but be afraid, and raised his head tremblingly, but he didn't dare to
Long Yan looked directly at Qin Jiyan and called out weakly: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty..." Either life or death, I have to tell you, holding back and not speaking like this will really drive people crazy.
When Jiangnan exchanged silver for grain, he took some filial piety back then, but the Emperor also agreed to this matter, so you really can't blame him.
God knows, since the new emperor came to the throne, he has been worrying about food, for fear that the new emperor would find out about this matter, and he would be in trouble.
In order to close the food gap, he has been dealing with grain merchants a lot during this period, trying to buy grain from them, even if the price is higher, it doesn't matter, but... with little success.
The south of the Yangtze River is flooded, and anyone with a discerning eye can see that the Qin Dynasty is short of food, and food will become increasingly scarce. Grain merchants only need to hold on for a month or two, and the price of food will skyrocket. If they sell now, they will be stupid.
"You guys are very good..." Qin Jiyan looked at the officials below coldly and tapped his fingers on the table. The sound was not loud, but it frightened everyone present.
The emperor was so angry that he laid down millions of corpses and shed blood for thousands of miles. "Plop..." All the officials present, including Feng Shoufu, couldn't sit still and all knelt on the ground. Feng Shoufu said with a face of shame:
"Your Majesty, I am guilty. Please punish me, Your Majesty."
Chief Assistant Feng knew something about the incident in Jiangnan, but he didn't know that the matter had become so serious. Although he was the Chief Assistant, he couldn't do everything by himself. He had to take care of too many things every day, and unimportant matters simply didn't matter.
If you can't get it in front of him, the people below will join forces to deceive the superiors and subordinates. It is really not difficult to hide it from him, the chief assistant.
The Qin Dynasty has never been short of food. Although there was a flood in Jiangnan, the chief minister Feng never thought that the granary of the Qin Dynasty was out of food. After all, every time Jiangnan asked for food, the Minister of Hubu gave it to him happily. The Ministry of War asked for food, and the Ministry of Hubu asked for food.
The minister was also very happy, and there was no sign of food shortage at all.
If there was no shortage of food, Feng Shoufu would naturally not ask about it. If he didn't ask, how would he know that Da Qin was short of food to the point where it could not even support an army of hundreds of thousands.
Qin Jiyan ignored Feng Shoufu and looked at the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue again, "How much food is left?" He had to make a plan on how to overcome the current difficulties.
"When I return to the Holy Spirit, all the grain and grass for the Jiangnan disaster relief have been pulled out. According to the quantity Master Jiao asked for, it is only a lot more. The grain and grass requested by the Ministry of War have also been prepared, which is enough for the army for half a year to last until the autumn harvest.
When Jiangnan recovers and the grain and grass are collected, we can continue to maintain the original operation." The Minister of the Ministry of Finance looked broken, and his voice trembled.
Speaking of which, he was also unlucky. After discovering that something was wrong, he immediately went to raise grain, and even used his own connections to forcefully buy a batch of grain from a grain merchant to fill the hole.
Finally, after painstaking efforts, the food shortage was temporarily closed, and then Feng Yao came to defect with his army.
If the group of people brought by Feng Yao hadn't come over, he would have held on and forced a few grain merchants to pay some blood. Maybe tomorrow, when Jiangnan's harvest was good, this matter would have passed quietly, and he wouldn't even have let it go.
The emperor knows it, but what about now?
Doesn't he dare to hide it?
He now only has one warehouse of grain on hand, which is only enough to feed the imperial guards in the capital for half a year. Where can he turn it into food for an army of 300,000 people?
Except for the people in Feng Yao's hands, the food and grass in other places are enough to last for half a year until the autumn harvest. It is said that the Minister of the Ministry of Finance has done a good job, but...
"Where is the pre-stored grain? Not even one grain? What if there is a natural or man-made disaster and the harvest is not good this autumn, or the Jiangnan area fails to be harvested in a short time?" After the flood, it will take time to rebuild Jiangnan, and it will not take three to five years to fully recover.
Less than the original harvest.
In other words, Da Qin may have to eat a lot of food within three to five years, and they have to be careful not to have any accidents, otherwise people will starve to death...
When he thought of this possibility, Qin Jiyan was so angry that he wanted to kill someone.
A few years ago, Da Qin's money was embezzled by several princes, so that the national treasury had no silver and could not even support a war. But now, Da Qin's food has been robbed by a so-called orthodox royal bloodline, and it is also unable to support it.
Support a great war.
Could it be that Xihu will not fight?
A message to readers: Please forgive me for being late. I went to the hospital today and my uncle was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The whole family couldn't bear it.