Jinyang County is Taiyuan City, which was the land of Longxing in the Tang Dynasty and was named the northern capital. It has a wide city, a large population, and extremely rich reserves of grain, grass and materials.
The current Taiyuan left-behind is Li Huaiguang. He was re-employed by the imperial court. Last autumn, he was transferred to Taiyuan and commanded 20,000 Taiyuan left-behind troops.
The governor of Taiyuan was Yuan Chu, Yuan Lu's brother. The Yuan family also invested a lot of money in the Taiyuan army. Basically, all the middle-level generals and above were bribed by the Yuan family. Even Li Huaiguang benefited from the Yuan family's tens of thousands of dollars.
, he turned a blind eye to the Yuan family's bribery of his generals.
In fact, Li Huaiguang only controlled half of Taiyuan's 20,000 troops, and the other half was in the hands of Taiyuan's military commander Han Xiuming, who was Yuan Xuanhu's niece-in-law.
Yuan Lu came to the Taiyuan government office and found his brother Yuan Chu. The two brothers went into the back hall and sat down. Yuan Chu waved his hand and asked several followers to leave. Yuan Lu took out a letter from his arms and handed it to Yuan Chu.
"This is a letter from father, please read it first!"
Yuan Chu opened the letter and read it. He must obey his father's arrangements absolutely and there was no room for bargaining. He nodded, "Please tell father and I will do it!"
"It's not as simple as following instructions, it's about doing things well and doing them beautifully."
"When I say that, of course I know what to do."
Yuan Chu didn't want to argue with his brother about this topic, so he asked with a smile: "How is the training at the manor?"
Yuan Lu shook his head, "I'm very disappointed. After training for so many years, I don't know how much money I've invested, but I still feel like a bunch of rabble, basically the same as last year."
"That's because my brother's requirements are too high."
"I'm not asking for too much. You've seen Li Sheng's army, right? That's how powerful it is. An army of 10,000 can defeat someone else's army of 30,000. Our Zhuang army doesn't even have half the combat effectiveness of others, so I'm disappointed."
Yuan Chu shook his head and changed the subject: "How is the situation over at Guo Song? Is there any hope of revenge for the Yuan family?"
"The emperor had already launched a murderous intention against Guo Song, but he didn't dare to push him too hard. He pushed him back, making it difficult for the court to take care of both sides. My father estimates that after the war in the Central Plains subsides, the emperor will definitely take action on him."
Yuan Chu smiled bitterly and said: "I'm afraid the war in the Central Plains is about to take a turn."
Yuan Lu quickly asked: "Why?"
"I heard from Li Huaiguang that the eunuch supervisor Song Chaofeng commanded the army blindly and had a deep conflict with Li Mian. In addition, the Tang army was unable to attack Qizhou for a long time, and the emperor became anxious. Li Huaiguang also criticized the emperor, saying that haste leads to waste.
Da, if you attack the city too quickly, there will definitely be trouble."
Yuan Lu thought for a moment and said, "Maybe this is an opportunity!"
Yuan Chu stroked his beard and said with a smile: "This is not the real reason for the turning point in the war situation in the Central Plains. Moreover, the imperial court's financial resources have been exhausted."
Yuan Lu was surprised, "Is it that serious?"
Yuan Chu nodded, "The army in Taiyuan Prefecture alone owes half a year's salary, and the officials' salaries have not been paid for half a year. Li Huaiguang tells me every day that if the court does not pay the salary, the army will not be able to support their families, and they will definitely rebel."
.........
It has been more than April since the Spring War of the Central Plains started in February. The war has become more and more intense. The entire Central Plains, Hebei, Hedong and Jianghuai are involved in the war. Emperor Li Shi has also become anxious from the initial calmness.
stand up.
The financial resources of the government are becoming increasingly tight. The salaries of imperial officials have not been paid for three months. The military salaries that should have been allocated to the armies in the west have all been used for the war in the east. The court has not allocated military salaries to the armies in the west for five consecutive months.
, both Longyou Army and Fengxiang Army had local mutinies. Although they were put out in time and no major problems occurred, this was already a bad warning.
Li Shi was so anxious that he issued seven imperial edicts to Song Chaofeng and Li Mian, ordering them to capture Licheng County before the end of the month and end the Qizhou Campaign.
At the same time, he issued an order to Liu Qia and Ge Shu Yao, ordering them to exterminate Li Xilie as soon as possible and restore water transportation to the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers. Water transportation was blocked, and money and grain from the south of the Yangtze River could not be passed. There were less than 100,000 guan of copper coins in the left treasury of the imperial court, and only more than 200,000 pieces of silk.
Documents urging food and money from the armies of Pi, Hebei, Central Plains and Jianghuai came flying like snow flakes, and Li Shi was almost driven crazy.
In the imperial study, Li Shi was listening to the financial report from Lu Qi and Li Mi.
Lu Qi bowed and said: "Your Majesty, it is still half a year before the two taxes are levied. It is definitely unrealistic to levy taxes. However, Wei Chen feels that the copper coins in the Chang'an market are quite sufficient. It is better to sell some of the utensils in the Zuozang Treasury.
, you can get a lot of money back.”
Lu Qi inspected the Zuozang warehouse yesterday and found that there were a large number of gold and silver wares, jade wares, porcelain, as well as Sichuan brocade, carpets, ivory and other luxury goods in the warehouse, so he decided to buy these wares.
"How much can I get by selling them?"
"Wei Chen estimates that he has about two million guans?"
"How much military salary do we have to spend?" Li Shi asked Li Bi again.
Li Mi bowed and said: "Your Majesty, the military salary arrears are about 10 million yuan."
Li Shi waved his hand, "Ignoring the military expenditures of the Jiedu Prefectures in the west for the time being, how much military expenditures are still owed on the eastern battlefield?"
"About five million strings."
Li Mi couldn't help but persuade: "Your Majesty, as well as the officials' salaries, they have not been paid from February to now. I heard that many middle- and low-level officials have begun to sell off their property to survive, and there are still many people who cannot pay.
As for the rent, I have to move to a farmhouse outside the city, so I have to pay a little bit."
Li Shi knocked on the table dissatisfied, "I know they are in difficulty, who is not in difficulty now? Yesterday, the Ordnance Supervisor told me that the salary owed to the craftsmen has been almost a year, and the materials in stock are almost used up. Now the Ordnance Supervisor
Work has stopped, there are no craftsmen to build weapons, and the inventory of weapons and armor is gone. The former enemy general is urging me to send weapons and supplies every day. This is the most urgent need.
But this alone costs three million yuan, and the guards are also making trouble, saying that they have not been paid for half a year. Yesterday, hundreds of guards knelt on the ground and cried to me, what should I do?"
Li Mi gritted his teeth and said, "Your Majesty, if it doesn't work, just borrow some from Qiong Lin's library!"
Li Shi's expression changed drastically, and he stared at Li Mi fiercely, "I don't understand what you are talking about?"
The two treasuries, Qionglin Treasury and Daying Treasury, were Li Shi's private treasury, including rents collected from major imperial estates, profits earned by royal merchants, and even income from Li Shi's bribes from ministers. Most importantly,
It was the property that was confiscated after the collapse of several big corrupt people, including Li Fuguo, Lu Sigong, Yu Chaoen, Yuan Zai, etc. Half of it went into the Zuotang Treasury of the imperial court, and the other half went into the emperor's private treasury.
Qionglin Treasury and Daying Treasury are in the hands of eunuchs, and the various wealth accumulated in them are worth at least tens of millions. Li Mi has long wanted to persuade the emperor to use part of it for emergency relief, and today he finally found an opportunity to make this request.
Li Shi has always been extremely stingy. He has never been able to get in or out of his private treasury. The last time he paid for it was the dowry given to the county owners last year. More than ninety county owners spent millions of money on him, which already made him heartbroken.
No matter what, if I ask him to pay millions more, I might as well kill him directly.
Lu Qi knew that the emperor would definitely be reluctant to pay for his own money, so he quickly interrupted the topic, "Your Majesty, it is better to listen to the advice of the ministers and sell the utensils, so that you can have some money to pay the military salary."
Li Shi nodded, "I'm sure, you guys can discuss this matter!"
Li Mi had no choice but to leave with Lu Qi.
Li Shi was upset and paced back and forth in the room. He had no money! It is difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without rice. Without money, he, the emperor, was really frustrated.
At this time, Huo Xianming suggested in a low voice: "Your Majesty, there are many wealthy people in Chang'an, such as Guo Ziyi's Mansion, Wu Zhongru's Mansion, etc. They all have huge wealth. Now that the country is in trouble, it is time for them to contribute money and help."
Li Shi nodded, this is actually a good idea. Li Mi didn't bother with their ideas, but instead thought about his own warehouse, which is really hateful!
"Let me think about this matter!"
Seeing that the emperor was interested, Huo Xianming immediately reported: "[Biquge www.biquger.info] Your Majesty, Tian Wenxiu is back to report on his duties!"
Li Shi was immediately furious, "What's he doing here? Did I call him back?"
"Your Majesty, please calm down. Why don't you listen to what he has to say? He must have some unavoidable reasons."
Li Shi snorted heavily, "Let him come to see me!"
Not long after, Tian Wenxiu almost ran in, knelt on the ground and cried loudly, "I didn't expect that I could see Your Majesty again!"
Li Shi was so upset by his crying that he slapped the table and shouted: "Okay! Okay! Stop crying, I'm going to be bored to death."
Tian Wenxiu didn't dare to cry anymore. He wiped away his tears and said: "The slave's military supervisory office was closely monitored by soldiers sent by Guo Song. No reports could be sent out. The slave had no choice but to use the excuse of going to Beijing to report on his duties.
Leave Hexi and report the situation to His Majesty in person."
Li Shi took out his last military supervision report from under the drawer, and said with some dissatisfaction: "There are some problems in your report that I can't believe. You said that he was building a lot of construction projects in the north of the city and building palaces illegally. I investigated specifically, and there was no such problem.
How do you explain it?"
"Your Majesty, the minister did not lie, but his statement may be wrong. Although he did not build a new palace, he did carry out extensive construction work to repair a Taoist temple called Laojun Temple. It originally occupied only five acres, but now it has been expanded to three hundred acres.
It is resplendent and majestic. It is a Taoist temple in name, but as long as the brand is changed, it becomes a royal palace."
Tian Wenxiu also learned the lesson from the last time and tried his best to move closer to the truth. Guo Song did open up a hundred acres of open space behind Laojun Temple, but that was to build a warehouse to store saltpeter and sulfur.
"I will naturally check what you said. I will ask you again, is Guo Song's wife pregnant?"
"This is because the slave's information is wrong. The slave's subordinates recognized the wrong person. His wife is indeed pregnant and has given birth to a son."
Li Shi nodded, "Tell me about his current situation!"