Fu Shanhe

Chapter 122: Collecting to Cents More
Nanjing.

When Tian Zhisheng received the official document from Yangzhou Prefecture, he felt like the sky was falling.

In the previous rebellion suppression war, the poor performance of the six ministries of Nanjing caused strong dissatisfaction among the emperor and the cabinet.

As the Minister of War, Tian Zhisheng was severely reprimanded by Emperor Tianyuan and was punished by a three-year salary deduction.

He doesn't care about a little salary.

The political impact caused by this is extremely bad.

Originally, the six ministries in Nanjing were retirement homes for important officials. Under this situation, it would be difficult for him to complete this term.

As soon as the imperial examination began, he realized that the situation was not good.

Considering the bad impression he had left on Lord Xu before, there was a high possibility that he would fail this assessment.

We just sent people to Beijing for activities, and now this kind of thing happens.

The salt field was looted, and the bigwigs in the court whose interests were damaged could not help but take note of him.

Officials from Yangzhou Prefecture are also responsible, but they were only transferred there at the end of last year.

The local military forces failed to recover in time, and the Ministry of War was the first to bear the brunt.

The Ministry of War in Beijing is not easy to mess with, and the Ministry of War in Nanjing is undoubtedly the best scapegoat.

As the government office directly under the central government, it is not unfair for them to be held responsible for the charges.

However, Tian Zhisheng still felt aggrieved. The Nanjing Military Department was inefficient, which was a historical problem.

In name, they have great power, but most of it overlaps with the Ministry of War in the capital.

When there is a conflict in the decisions of both parties, the decision of the Ministry of War in the capital always takes precedence.

Decisions were overturned time and time again, and everyone's ambitions were long gone.

When faced with problems, officials in the Ministry of War would delay as much as possible.

In order to avoid being embarrass later, they would rather drag it out and wait for the Ministry of War in the capital to deal with it than solve the problem in advance.

This time was no exception. The problem of the lack of local military strength in Yangzhou was skillfully thrown by them to the Ministry of War in the capital.

If nothing unexpected happens, then there is nothing wrong with this operation.

Unfortunately, something has happened now. If the imperial court holds him accountable, he, the Nanjing Minister of War, will definitely not be able to escape.

Deep down in his heart, Tian Zhisheng greeted the entire family of the pirate who caused the trouble.

Taking action at the critical moment of the Beijing Inspection was not just a robbery of the salt field, it was clearly an attack on his official hat.

If you block someone's career and don't wipe out all nine generations of his clan, you will never be able to get rid of the hatred in your heart.

"Pass the order down, order the Jiangnan Navy and Yangzhou Camp to advance by land and sea, and make sure to wipe out the pirates in the shortest possible time."

Tian Zhisheng immediately gave the order.

What happened before cannot be changed, and now we can only think of ways to make up for it as much as possible afterwards.

In order to improve efficiency, he rarely showed the responsibility of the Minister of War.

He did not convene a public meeting of the six ministries in order to reduce his own responsibility.

“Sir Shangshu, I’m afraid they won’t act if we just give them an order.

According to the custom of our dynasty, before the army goes out to war, it must first be given a sum of money for travel expenses.

At the same time, a batch of military rations must be raised to ensure the army's combat needs.

As for the Yangzhou camp, we can ask the Yangzhou prefectural government to make advance payment.

As for the Jiangnan Navy, in theory, it could be pushed to the Nanzhili Governor's Office and the Dusi Office to advance the military pay.

The problem is that given their situation, they may not be able to come up with money and food for a while."

Yin Dengjia, the Minister of War, reminded him tactfully.

In the previous rebellion suppression war, the Southern Zhili Governor's Office had advanced a large amount of military expenses, and the treasury had long been empty.

Not to mention the Dusi Yamen, which was squeezed together with the Nanjing Ministry of War, and its own authority was compressed to the extreme.

Looking at the official documents from the provincial government, we can see that matters like troop deployment were handled directly to the Nanjing Ministry of War without informing them.

In the Dayu Dynasty, there would be no money without a powerful government office.

"Isn't the spring tax going to be delivered soon? Let the governor's office think of a way to deal with this matter first.

If you delay for too long, something serious will happen.

Ha Shaoxing knows the seriousness of the matter, and he will do his best on this issue."

Tian Zhisheng thought for a moment and said.

Lack of money is a common phenomenon in government offices at all levels in Dayu.

The garbage tax system limited the growth of the court's fiscal revenue.

The group that should have paid the most taxes did not pay them to the court.

Even if government offices at all levels would impose some additional fees on lower levels, it would still be a drop in the bucket.

As a transit station, the Nanjing Ministry of War relied entirely on appropriations from the imperial court for its own financial resources and had no surplus at all.

If you want money, you have to go to the Ministry of Revenue, not the one in Nanjing, but the one in the capital.

Tian Zhisheng was authorized to use only the strategic materials stored by the court in Nanjing.

Unfortunately, these supplies have already been resold by the people below.

They wanted to take advantage of the last rebellion war to settle their accounts.

Unfortunately, each imperial envoy was more powerful than the other.

As soon as they showed some signs of progress, they were ruthlessly crushed.

The current Nanjing Military Department is actually an empty shell except for the large amount of military equipment and food on the books.

“Sir, the expedition expenses can be pushed onto Governor Ha, but the money for the Navy Office to repair the warships cannot be delayed.

If we don't repair and maintain the warship, it will be a disaster if it really goes to the battlefield!"

Xu Chonghao on the side added.

During his days at the front line, the Jiangnan Navy had just given him a generous gift.

It was originally intended to be an expense for settling accounts, but unfortunately it failed in the end.

The thing was not done, but he did contribute, so the money naturally cannot be refunded.

Now that the opportunity has come to him, for better cooperation in the future, he feels that he needs to help fight for it.

"I'll go to the Ministry of Revenue to discuss whether we can raise some money. Have the Jiangnan Navy send the warships to the shipyard for inspection immediately. We have to do it quickly.

No matter what, they must send troops within seven days to wipe out this group of pirates."

Tian Zhisheng said with a headache.

It's really too difficult. I feel like a plasterer who relies entirely on fooling around to get things done.

Even he himself knew that these orders were indeed excessive.

Completing the overhaul of a warship within seven days is pure dreaming.

The main purpose of sending the warship to the shipyard at this time was to repair major problems, so as to avoid it sinking as soon as the battle started.

If the naval battle is lost, he will be to blame.

After all, most of the money previously allocated by the imperial court for repairing warships was misappropriated by the Nanjing Ministry of War.

I thought that these warships had been in service for a long time and would reach their service life limit in two or three years.

At that time, we can simply decommission the ship and ask the court for money to build a new ship, thus saving the money for repairing the ship.

Unexpectedly, pirates would jump out and cause trouble when the plan was only halfway implemented.

Since we have to fight a war, there is no way to save on this expense.

For Tian Zhisheng, saving expenses is very important, but ensuring victory in the war is more important.

……

Governor's Yamen.

"asshole!"

"Tian Zhisheng, I owed you in my previous life!

Where is the money in the governor's office? This is obviously a scam.

Tell the Jiangnan Navy that I don’t have any money, and I won’t give you my life either.

If you have the ability, go to the Ministry of War to ask for it. If that doesn’t work, you can ask Yangzhou Prefecture for it.”

When Governor Ha received the news, he couldn't help but curse.

Whether you are a higher-up or not is totally insignificant in the face of interests.

At his level, only the emperor and the cabinet have the ability to decide on personnel appointments and dismissals.

If you want to go a step further, personnel appointments must be recommended by the court.

"Governor, please calm down. I am just a messenger and cannot be the head of the Ministry of War.

If you have any objections, please go and talk to Lord Tian.

It’s getting late now, I’ll take my leave now!”

Yin Dengjia decisively chose to leave.

Be it his immediate superior or the powerful governor in front of him, neither of them was someone he could afford to offend.

Now that the official document has been delivered, let's get out of here quickly.

So as to avoid being accidentally injured in the fight between the big guys.

"roll!"

Ha Shaoxing said unhappily.

Now when he saw people from the Ministry of War, he felt annoyed.

I wanted to refuse clearly, but in the end I didn't dare to speak.

Although the Ministry of War's approach was somewhat unfair, it was still an obligation that the Governor's Office should fulfill.

It is the responsibility to do a good job, but if problems arise, the responsibility is unlimited.

Compared with Minister Tian, ​​who is in a semi-retired state, he is still young and has unlimited prospects.

"Master, how much money is left in the governor's office? Is it enough for the Jiangnan Navy to set out?"

After sending the people away, Ha Shaoxing asked with concern.

We have to spend money now, and we will have to spend money after the war.

It will be a huge test for local finances.

"Master, there are still 300,000 taels of silver and 100,000 shi of grain in the account.

The actual situation is only one or two out of ten at most.

If the government was given silver for departure, it would be left with no money.

The only solution now is to impose a spring tax."

Master Yang said helplessly.

The governor's office in the richest province in the world is actually short of money. No one would believe it if the news got out.

“The spring tax must not be touched!

The imperial court is planning to send troops to Liaodong, and this year's taxes will all be used to pay the military.

Whoever dares to tamper with this is going against Your Majesty and the officials in the court.

The bastard named Tian clearly wants to harm me.

If he could really mobilize the spring tax, he wouldn't have to beat around the bush. He could just write me a letter and give me as much as he wanted.

That bastard doesn't dare to take the responsibility himself, so he wants me to take the blame for him. This is absolutely impossible.

Notify all prefectures to levy an additional fee to suppress the bandits.

The number of registered farmland in Southern Zhili was nearly 80 million mu. Except for the tax-free land, an additional tax of 3.5 cents was imposed on each mu.

The situation of the battle may change later, so we need to be more prepared."

Ha Shaoxing thought for a while and said.

Forcibly levying taxes on the people will undoubtedly affect the reputation of officials.

But there is no way now. Compared with offending the emperor and the officials in the court, it is obviously easier to bully the common people below.

As long as the gentry are not taxed, things will be under control.

……

(End of this chapter)