Chapter 769: Prince, the golden phoenix has brought happiness
There were not many choices left for Jia Liu.
Either he goes back on his words and takes back his boasts, and continues to contact the finance department, asking for money in various pretexts. If the money is not paid, he will not start the job.
Anyway, the military power is in his hands, and he has completely ruined it. How can the old rich man and the perverted man establish a general king again?
Or you can advance the project payment out of your own pocket and let the major engineering teams that come on site start working first.
At present, once the project funds are advanced, there is basically no possibility of recovery.
Since ancient times, military disasters have been better than natural disasters.
The area of Huguang was so troubled by the resurgence of the Han army that its vitality could not be restored for ten or eight years.
The reason why Jia Liu wanted to resolve the dispute peacefully was because he knew that the people could not bear the suffering of the military disaster.
Although the Xinghan Army generally did not cause much damage to the people since it entered Huguang, hundreds of thousands of people died due to the war, and countless properties were lost.
These objective facts cannot be changed by human will.
It's not something you, Gu Shidao, can restrain with a word, nor can Jia Liu change with a word.
If there is no peaceful solution, he will use force. Jia Liu believes that even if he cannot wipe out the Xinghan Army in a short time with his many years of deployment, half a year will be enough to restore local order.
But in that case, the price would be the loss of at least one million soldiers and civilians, and the fate of hundreds of miles of red land.
Direct economic losses may reach more than 100 billion.
Because in a hurry, who cares about military discipline, who cares about disturbing the people, who cares about the life and death of the people, and who cares about whether the city has a future.
Your own life is important.
The various deplorable deeds of the surrendered troops have already demonstrated this fact.
The Qing army itself was not much better.
If Jia Liu hadn't suppressed him, his second cousin Ursi Balan would have massacred the city on a large scale.
During this expedition to Huguang, Jia Liu did not use his own fame and fortune as the criterion for judgment, but the survival of the people as his recovery strategy.
The biggest difference between him and this era is that he always has the people in mind, and everything he does is from the perspective of the people, not from his own perspective.
If he wanted to be selfish, he would have sacrificed millions or even tens of millions of lives in exchange for his imperial robe, so Jia Liu would do whatever he said.
Anyway, the Qing Dynasty now has a population of more than 300 million, and the death of tens of millions is only a fraction.
In his two lifetimes, Jia Liu has harmed many people, but he has never harmed the common people!
No matter where you go, you always speak standard Mandarin: "fellow fellow!"
I always carry a handful of candies with me.
In view of this, political solutions are naturally better than military solutions.
But the prerequisite for a political solution is money.
Jia Liu doesn't have such a large sum of money.
The fact that he can really spend tens of millions of taels of banknotes at once shows that he has already become fully fledged, industrialized, and achieved substantial breakthroughs in sea trade, instead of just working with a hammer here and a stick here and there.
The reason why Lao Ji and Accountant Li remained silent was that they both thought that the prince might choose to lie down.
Even if the court didn't give him money, he wouldn't fight the war.
Sure enough, after pondering for a while, the prince said slowly: "Before the expedition, I and the relevant staff formulated a military plan for the Huguang Battle. The plan proposed three stages, that is, counterinsurgency should be carried out in three steps. Now
It seems that the goal of the first step has not only been achieved, but has even been exceeded, so I think we can just leave it at that and wait until the end of the New Year to talk about anything else."
The implication is that Lao Ji's work will be suspended for now and will be resumed when there is money.
Anyway, he has already recovered 29 counties for the Qing Dynasty. With this achievement, how many of the owners of the portraits in Ziguang Pavilion can match his achievements?
The top three, Fu Heng, Zhao Hui, and Ban Di, may still be able to play some, but the following ones are basically not enough.
Of course, Jia Liu had his reasons for thinking this way.
After all, the New Year is coming soon. After the New Year and the Qing Dynasty, the new fiscal year will begin. At that time, taxes will be paid by various provinces, and the old rich will be active.
Instead of letting the old rich squander the fiscal funds in the new fiscal year, it is better to come here to feed yourself.
In the current Qing Dynasty, is there anything more important than quelling the chaos?
"May I ask, Your Majesty, what is the specific content of the first step?"
Lao Ji did not know the military plan for the Huguang Battle. As the Minister of War and the Director of the United Front Office, he needed to learn more about it.
Jia Liu said casually: "It means to be in an invincible position first."
"oh?"
Lao Ji seemed to understand something and asked weakly: "If you don't bet, you won't lose?"
Jia Liu happily praised: "This is the truth. After all, scholars have a high level of education and good understanding."
"Your Majesty is wise!"
Lao Ji and Accountant Li looked at each other: Let me just say it, the prince is shameless again.
If you don’t fight, of course you won’t be defeated!
Jia Liu's sixth sense was stronger, and he couldn't help but look at the two of them suspiciously: "Why do I feel that you two are a bit duplicitous? You say that I am wise with your mouth, but you are scolding me for being shameless in your heart?"
"this"
Lao Ji and Accountant Li still say the same old saying: "The prince is wise!"
"Um?"
Jia Liu was not happy, nor was he scolding. He said after a while: "It's not that I'm shameless. As the old saying goes, the emperor has no shortage of hungry soldiers, and a clever woman cannot make a meal without rice. I have no money, so why fight?"
The situation is like this, but Lao Ji feels that it is not a good thing for the prince to choose to lie down. The situation is very good now. If we don't strike while the iron is hot and capture Wuchang, we may have long nights and many dreams.
Although it is a civil war between the father-in-law and the son-in-law, it is not a good thing for the son-in-law if the father-in-law is too strong.
Even if the two parties still have to sit down and talk together in the future, they still have to knock out a few of my father-in-law's teeth.
For this reason, please think twice.
"Think twice? It's useless to think twice. If you want to do something, you have to have money. If you don't have money, you can do nothing! You asked me to think twice. It's better for you to think twice and find a way to solve this big problem of having no money for me."
Jia Liu was not happy that Lao Ji's thoughts could not be consistent with his. They all said that those who are close to Mo are evil, but why didn't he think that Lao Ji, an old pervert, was not dark enough?
But Lao Ji said that there was no way, it just depended on whether the prince would agree to it.
Jia Liu said in a dull voice: "As long as I don't sell myself, everything is easy to talk about."
Lao Ji said there was only one way at the moment, and that was to make a large donation in Huguang.
There is a basis for making large donations. Firstly, the imperial court has always made donations and sold off officials when it was short of money. Secondly, after the revolt of the Han army, Huguang's civil service team was reduced by 80%.
A conservative estimate is that there are at least 30 provincial-level officials, 200 department-level officials, 1,000 division-level officials, 10,000 section-level officials, and 100,000 unit-level cadre vacancies.
Take Hubei as an example. There is a shortage of the second-in-command chief envoy in the first province. One of the two political advisors below, Accountant Li, is also vacant. There is also a vacancy for the right political advisor.
There is a shortage of seats for all the councilors under the political participation department, and provincial units such as the Procuratorate and Envoys Department, the Academic Affairs Office, etc. generally have a shortage of more than 60%.
Not to mention Fuzhou and County.
The province of Hunan was even more severely affected. From the governor down to the chief of security, no one from the Qing Dynasty was a traitor.
At the Huguang Governor's Office, the top leadership office of the two provinces, except for Governor Bo who was on the road, there was not even a ghost of the team below.
Therefore, if you let go of large donations at this time and sell the vacancies of provincial, prefecture, and county officials with real power, you will definitely make a lot of money.
Moreover, a large donation at this time can be sold at a good price. After all, under the personal guidance of the prince, the Qing soldiers recovered 29 counties and achieved the best situation since the rebellion, which greatly encouraged the gentry and wealthy people in Huguang.
Households and wealthy people.
"Director Ji, this is a good idea. It can solve the prince's urgent need!"
Accountant Li supported the proposal of selling an official position. After all, the prince had done this in Beijing, and he was also responsible for the specific implementation, so he was very familiar with it.
As long as the prince lets go, he can take care of things immediately.
When the time comes, I will pay the money in one hand and take the letter of appointment in the other. A few million taels will not be a problem at all. I can also make some money from it, so why not do it.
The prince didn't want to but shook his head: "No, what is the difference between this prince and Qianlong?"
Lao Ji was startled and thought to himself, Your Majesty, you have already sold off the officials of the Ministry of Civil Affairs until the fifty-eighth year of Qianlong's reign, and now you have turned upside down.
What greeted him was the prince's accusing look: "From now on, if you are dissatisfied with me, you'd better keep it on your lips. What's the point of keeping it in your heart? If you don't speak out, what will I do to you?"
"."
Ji Yun remained silent.
In fact, Lao Ji misunderstood the prince. The officials he sold in the Ministry of Personnel were not actually powerful officials in nature, and many of them were deputized officials. They were basically concentrated in the fifth, sixth and seventh rank, and there were not many officials with real power at all.
Therefore, even if it was sold until the 58th year of Qianlong's reign, the loss would only be the income from selling officials in the future in the Qing Dynasty, and there would be no harm to the local people.
But if we do what Lao Ji said and sell all the powerful officials in Huguang at the provincial, prefectural, prefectural and county levels, it would be a serious matter.
If you think about it with your buttocks, you will know that the people have just experienced military disasters and will soon experience official disasters.
If you spend money to buy an official position, you are not allowed to earn back your investment?
We are already so poor, so why don't we exploit the people as hard as we can?
Therefore, it is not advisable.
Moreover, Jia Liu also wanted to build Huguang into another Jiajia province after Sichuan and Zhili. How could he do such nonsense?
Just as he was hesitating, Lao Chen's people arrived.
He didn't come empty-handed, he also brought 300,000 taels of silver to Prince Rui.
Jia Liu couldn't help being shocked: "Old Chen is so particular? Why did he give me two hundred thousand taels in such a good manner?"
Accountant Li corrected: "Your Majesty, the gift was three hundred thousand taels."
"Didn't I give him one hundred thousand taels? With one deduction and one deduction, wouldn't it be two hundred thousand taels?"
Jia Liu wondered if you, an accountant, knew how to settle accounts.
Accountant Li was speechless: "Your Majesty, your one hundred thousand taels is just a bad check. I haven't settled the account yet."
"Is it?"
Jia Liu was a little embarrassed, and was about to ask Accountant Li to take away the account when he saw Lao Ji say "Oh!" and slap his forehead fiercely, his eyes gleaming as if he had discovered the New World of America: "Your Majesty, I'm wrong, I'm wrong.
!”
"What's wrong? I was surprised."
Jia Liu was a little angry because of Lao Ji.
Lao Ji hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, I'm saying that the way we worked in the past was wrong! It's totally wrong!"
"Um?"
Jia Liu was confused and said, "Old Ji, please explain it more clearly."
"Your Majesty, what I want to say is that in this situation, you shouldn't throw money away, but you should make a lot of money here!"