Fu Shanhe

Chapter 156 Not doing business properly
The Hall of Nourishing Heart.

The good news and the bad news came almost at the same time, making Ji Zhaoshun furious.

"Issue an order to have Guangdong Province escort the bastard who withheld military rations to Beijing. I will skin him alive!"

It turns out that the noisy child gets the milk.

Relying on a series of previous struggles, Ji Zhaoshun also gained some power from a group of ministers.

When it comes to dealing with criminals like this, no one would offend the emperor.

Those who are familiar with military affairs know that there were many reasons for the defeat in Zhaoqing.

Among the numerous armies in Guangdong, the proportion of local official troops in Zhaoqing is not high.

In the entire battle, it played a marginal role.

Prefect Yang was just unlucky. At the critical moment, the soldiers mutinied and demanded food.

It is indeed a bit too much to take all the responsibility.

But it was not unfair at all that he was cut into pieces.

Withholding food and fodder from soldiers and causing a mutiny is a serious crime punishable by death.

As a local official, it is his duty to defend his territory. Losing Zhaoqing Prefecture is also a serious crime punishable by death.

"Mr. Yin, Mr. Zuo, how do you think I should deal with the current situation?"

Ji Zhaoshun asked.

Deep down, he had expressed doubts about the abilities of these two people.

But what can he do? He is a vassal king who suddenly came to power and there are not many talented people around him.

Among his close confidants, Yin Zhiming and Zuo Hongjiang had served as high-ranking officials in the court and were most familiar with the rules of the Dayu officialdom.

“Your Majesty, the rebels in Guangxi are nothing to worry about.

The Yangzhou Camp and the Huai'an Camp recaptured Lianzhou Prefecture, and the rebels had to withdraw troops from the front line to provide support, thus resolving the crisis in Guangdong.

Now you need to consider the court.

According to the rules, you should get married and take power next year.

I am not trying to sow discord between you and your ministers, I am just learning from history.

Since ancient times, when monarchs ruled the country themselves, it was rare for power to be transferred smoothly.

Of course, all these ministers were carefully selected by the late emperor and they were definitely not traitors.

But in their minds, Your Majesty is still a child who has not grown up.

For the sake of the country, I am afraid..."

Yin Zhiming took the opportunity to instigate.

The Guangxi chaos was the result of his mismanagement, but he certainly could not admit to such a thing.

In order to hide the secret, he ruthlessly killed all those involved in the incident.

At this point, the blame for the collapse of the situation in Guangxi must be placed on the ministers.

This is what the emperor wants and what he needs.

"Humph!"

"I am a child, so they can continue to control the government, right?"

Ji Zhaoshun said with a sneer.

No monarch likes a powerful minister, even if he has been in control of the government for less than a year.

Although he was dissatisfied, Ji Zhaoshun had to hold it in.

He never gained any advantage in the game with his ministers.

If he were to turn against them directly, it would be unknown whether he could keep sitting on the throne.

“Your Majesty, the late emperor appointed so many assistant ministers in order to check and balance power.

The current dilemma is mainly because a group of ministers gather together every day and gradually show a tendency to form a clique.

If they can be separated, the clique of ministers will surely be broken up.

Your Majesty's troubles in ruling the country next year will be easily solved."

Zuo Hongjiang proposed immediately.

The pressure of going against the seven ministers was too great.

In recent days, their disciples and former officials have been squeezed out of the center of power.

Some of those who were active were directly thrown into prison.

Those who had managed to escape the disaster also distanced themselves from the two.

The tribesmen who were thousands of miles away were also hit.

Yin Zhiming's son was exiled for raping a woman, and Zuo Hongjiang's brother was executed for killing someone.

The officials handling the case showed them no mercy at all.

Compared with the glory they had just enjoyed when they had just overthrown the eunuch party, the situations of the two men now are completely at two extremes.

If they continue like this, they will probably be confiscated and exterminated before the emperor takes power.

Hearing "separate them", Ji Zhaoshun hesitated for a moment.

The seven ministers are all important officials in the capital. If you want to separate them, you must send some of them to serve in local areas.

"It's difficult!"

Ji Zhaoshun shook his head and said.

The status of the assistant ministers is there, and the local governors are several levels lower than them.

Proposing that these people be demoted to new positions is a definite demotion.

It was not easy for him, an emperor without real power, to demote an assistant minister.

If we are not careful, it will trigger more intense political confrontation.

For Ji Zhaoshun, in the current situation, it is better to stay still than to move.

When the day comes for him to take power, all the ministers, no matter how reluctant they are, will have to hand over more power to him.

The only difference is that the transfer of power may be slower.

At his age, he has no pressure at all to outlast those old guys.

"Your Majesty, the Guangxi rebellion is the best opportunity.

To organize a multi-provincial coalition to encircle and suppress the rebellion, ordinary ministers cannot intimidate officials from various provinces, and heavyweight officials must be sent.

Guangxi will send an assistant minister to supervise, and Liaodong can also send an inspector.

The southeastern provinces need to raise food and wages for the army, and they can also send an assistant minister to supervise it.

In this case, three of the seven ministers were gone.

The war between the two places will not be settled overnight. When you take power next year, you will only have four assistant ministers to deal with. "

Zuo Hongjiang explained with a smile.

Behind each of the seven ministers is a large group of people who work together to control the government, and the emperor has no right to interfere at all.

If it changes from seven to four, the situation will be different.

Even if they were only away from the capital for a short time, they were away from the center of power. With such a long distance, the decision-making power of the court affairs fell on the other four people.

Once the distribution of benefits is involved, the three people who were not personally involved will definitely be dissatisfied with the results.

It doesn't matter if it happens once or twice, but once it goes on for a long time, conflicts will arise.

"Mr.'s plan is brilliant!
However, I cannot bring this up myself, could you two gentlemen please do it for me?"

Ji Zhaoshun's words scared Yin Zuoren half to death.

It's okay for them to secretly instigate such offensive work.

If you go to the court and bring it up, it will be fatal.

"Your Majesty, the two of us are just honorary positions, and our words do not carry enough weight in the court!"

Yin Zhiming quickly refused.

The only one targeting the two of them now is Lord Pang.

If they stir up trouble and offend three more ministers, their mortal enemies will be the four ministers.

Then don’t say anything more, just prepare the coffin.

"Forget it, I will arrange someone else to carry out the implementation."

Ji Zhaoshun said with a hint of disappointment.

In his opinion, these two gentlemen are talented, but they are cautious when doing things.

Whenever something big happens, I have to hide behind.

……

Lianzhou Prefecture.

Without paying attention to the disturbances in the outside world, after wiping out the remnants of the rebels in Lianzhou, Li Mu immediately set about restoring agricultural production.

Compared with the wealthy Yangzhou, Lianzhou is definitely far inferior.

But considering the mountainous Guangxi, Lianzhou Prefecture still has relatively good conditions.

There is a port near the sea, the terrain is relatively flat, and there is sufficient rainfall, which is suitable for agricultural production.

“That’s about it!

These are all civil servants' jobs, and no matter how well we do them, we won't get any reward.

Instead of spending this time, we should send troops to recapture a few more cities and report the victory to the court."

Seeing Li Mu busying around, Jing Yifeng began to persuade him.

In order to suppress military generals, Dayu prohibited them from participating in local governance.

Although newly recovered areas like Lianzhou are not restricted, don't expect to gain any credit.

No matter how much you do now, it will only be to help others.

Jing Yifeng had no interest in this thankless task.

"Uncle Qi, do you think I want to waste time here and don't want to build achievements?

The capture of more than 60,000 prisoners meant more than 60,000 mouths to feed.

There are also refugees gathering here who need us to provide food for relief.

The court has been slow to send civil servants to take over this mess, so all the pressure is on us unlucky guys.

If we continue to send troops to retake more state capitals, the mess we will take over will be even bigger.

The food and fodder allocated by the imperial court is not enough to feed so many people, and they will rebel again.

I think so many famous generals in ancient times killed prisoners because they were forced to do so.

There are two roads before us now.

Or we can organize them to sow seeds quickly and strive to harvest a wave of spring crops to alleviate food pressure.

Or just kill all these people, and from now on you and I will be labeled as butchers and cursed by history books for thousands of years!"

Li Mu retorted unhappily.

He has been very busy these days.

Seeing Jing Yifeng idle and doing nothing, deep down in his heart, he had already felt unbalanced.

He wanted to ask Jing Yifeng for help several times, but considering the lack of execution ability of Huai'an Camp, he was forced to give up.

"Ha ha……"

“Don’t take me with you when it comes to killing prisoners.

I definitely can't do such a thing.

If I were to arrange for people to farm the land, even if I wanted to help, I wouldn’t know how.

At worst, I can submit a few more memorials to urge the court to allocate more food and fodder.

But don't have too high expectations for this kind of thing.

Even daily military pay would be withheld. In the eyes of those civil servants, prisoners of war and refugees were not considered human beings at all.

You should organize them to be self-reliant!"

As he spoke, Jing Yifeng looked at Li Mu with sympathy.

It’s not easy to be a head coach!
In addition to fighting the war, we also have to consider the aftermath.

If he had known it would be so troublesome, he would not have come here to talk nonsense.

If Li Mu gave up, he would feel overwhelmed when thinking about the tens of thousands of extra mouths to feed.

No wonder the court has been slow to decide on the candidates for Lianzhou Prefecture. It is estimated that no one is willing to come.

If you come here to be an official now, you won’t get any benefits at all, and you even have to pay money into it.

Don't even think about getting any credit. You might even get your head chopped off by hungry refugees.

"Okay, go do what you need to do and stop being an eyesore here!"

Li Mu said with pretended disgust.

Organizing prisoners of war and refugees to resume production is both a difficult task and also comes with huge benefits.

There was only so much registered land in Lianzhou Prefecture, and the rest was hidden by the gentry.

The local gentry suffered heavy casualties after being harassed by the rebels.

Even if a few lucky ones survived, they would be lucky enough to be able to maintain their family businesses, and they would not be able to continue occupying these hidden lands.

If he stayed in Guangxi to serve, these ownerless lands could be legally turned into military land.

The question is about the military fields of the garrison!
It is impossible to measure it.

No petty official dared to go to the military camp to measure the land.

Anyway, the civil servants who were sent to serve in remote areas like Guangxi were marginal figures in the court.

No one with a little bit of connections or background would come and take over this mess.

Li Mu calculated that as long as the business could be run for one or two years, all the initial investment could be recovered.

What's more, this expenditure was largely borne by the imperial court.

With the addition of captured spoils, there wasn't much he actually had to bear.

(End of this chapter)