Fu Shanhe

Chapter 182 Everyone is having a hard time

Capital.

"it is good!"

Looking at the good news in his hand, Emperor Yongning said excitedly.

This good news came at the right time. Preparations for his wedding were underway in Beijing, and receiving the news of victory in the Guangxi battle at this time was undoubtedly a great omen.

The White Lotus rebels grew too fast, which brought heavy political pressure to the new emperor. He was afraid that the situation would deteriorate further and lead to the overthrow of the country.

There have always been various rumors about him among the people.

In an era when the principle of correspondence between heaven and man was practiced, large-scale rebellions broke out in local areas, which was a manifestation of the emperor's immorality.

In addition, several actions he took after he ascended the throne offended a number of ministers, and the cabinet did not do anything to help him cleanse himself.

For Emperor Yongning, who attached great importance to his reputation, the decline in his own reputation was undoubtedly unacceptable.

At this moment, he has realized the goodness of the factory guards.

If these two secret agencies were still there, even if the people wanted to criticize the emperor, they would not dare to make up so many jokes.

Although he had no evidence, he knew that most of the rumors were spread by officials in the court.

It's too late to regret now. All officials welcomed the abolition of the Factory Guards, but it is not a bit difficult to re-establish them.

There was not a single supporter among all the civil and military officials and royal family members in the court.

At least before he came to power, he had no way to restore the Factory Guards.

"Your Majesty, the victory in the Guangxi Campaign is only the beginning. Lord Xu is planning a large-scale counterattack.

If all goes well, the White Lotus Rebellion can be quelled within this year!"

Minister of War Yi Chuanliang said.

The reason why he spoke so hard for Xu Wenyue was mainly due to political needs, besides the fact that the Guangxi Campaign was dominated by military generals, which was not in line with the strategy of using civil power to control military power.

During the reign of the previous emperor, he was a member of the reform faction. Because he cooperated with the eunuch party many times, he was politically labeled as a member of the eunuch party.

After Zuo Guangen's fall, the political power of the eunuch party group collapsed. In order to escape the fate of being liquidated, Yi Chuanliang turned to the Qingliu group.

If ordinary officials acted like this, they would definitely end up dead. Given the extent to which the Qingliu people hated the eunuch party, they would never accept their surrender.

Yi Chuanliang's situation was different. Not only was he a fellow Jinshi as Xu Wenyue, they had a good private relationship, and he was also the Minister of War of the imperial court.

Considering the importance of the position of Minister of War, and with Xu Wenyue personally guaranteeing him, he suddenly changed from a member of the Eunuch Party to a patriot who infiltrated the Eunuch Party from the Qingliu Group.

Favors owed must always be repaid.

"Lord Xu, you are truly the pillar of the country!"

Emperor Yongning said with satisfaction.

A few days ago, he called Xu Wenyue a waste, but in the blink of an eye, he became a pillar of the country.

None of the ministers said anything about the emperor's quick change of attitude.

These are all normal operations of the monarch of Dayu. Capable ministers are the pillars of the country, and incompetent ones are waste.

The evaluation criteria are so simple and crude.

"Your Majesty, since ancient times, food and fodder have always been sent before troops move.

If a large-scale counterattack is launched, the money, food, and military equipment required will be a huge expense.

The funds allocated by the imperial court for suppressing the rebellion may not be enough to cover the military expenses. "

Yi Chuanliang then added.

What he was waiting for was Emperor Yongning's approval of the plan so that he could ask for money next.

Although the government is still managed by a group of regents, the emperor is about to get married and is only a step away from ruling the country himself.

At this critical juncture, everyone naturally did not want to offend the emperor, so that Emperor Yongning's voice in the court became more and more important.

"The court reserved eight million taels of silver for suppressing the rebellion at the beginning of the year. How could it be insufficient?"

Emperor Yongning asked in disbelief.

In order to raise military funds to quell the rebellion, even the scale of his wedding was downgraded.

However, only a few months later, he was suddenly told that there was not enough money, which Emperor Yongning could not tolerate.

“Your Majesty, in addition to the military expenses in suppressing the rebellion, the court is also responsible for providing relief to refugees and organizing the local people to resume production.

Take the Battle of Guangxi as an example. The imperial court spent more than two million taels of silver before the current victory was achieved.

Of this total, direct military expenditure accounted for only one third, while rewards for the three armed forces and pensions for fallen soldiers accounted for 20%.

The remaining expenses were mostly used for refugee relief and post-war reconstruction.

Feeding prisoners of war and the families of traitors is also a considerable expense.

According to reports from Guangxi, as of the middle of last month, more than 150,000 prisoners of war had been captured, and more than 100,000 family members of traitors had been detained.

Because there were too many people, Guangxi had to leave a guard to guard these criminals. "

After hearing the explanation from the Minister of Revenue Pang Chengjie, Emperor Yongning fell silent for a moment.

These are all practical problems.

As an emperor who wanted to save face, he could not say that he would give up helping the refugees.

Captured prisoners of war and family members of traitors cannot be killed now.

The rebellion has not yet been quelled, and starting a massacre at this time would be tantamount to forcing the rebels to fight to the death.

Once the rebels are pushed into a desperate situation, the combat power that the enemy can unleash will definitely not be limited to what it is now.

The expenses for post-disaster relief cannot be touched, and military expenses are even more untouchable.

The officers and soldiers on the front line are fighting hard. If their treatment is reduced and the troops mutinied, it would be a big trouble.

A similar case occurred when the Guangdong Campaign broke out. Although the generals were successfully captured, the price was the fall of Guangdong.

"Cabinet, do you have any strategy?"

Emperor Yongning asked expectantly.

War is too expensive.

The Guangxi Campaign consumed more than a quarter of the budget, and the expenses of the other armies were equally high.

However, for the time being, they have no outstanding military achievements and have not been able to recover lost territory, so they lack the confidence to ask the court for money.

"Your Majesty, the only solution now is to divert funds from other places.

Delay the payment of salaries to officials, nobles, and royal family members, and fill the gap when the court's finances improve.

Taking into account the living problems of officials, officials below the sixth rank have lower incomes, so there is no mandatory deduction of salaries.

Officials from the sixth to the third rank will have their salaries reduced by half. Officials above the third rank will have their salaries temporarily suspended! "

Pang Hengsheng answered slowly.

He knew that his proposal would attract a lot of hatred.

But the court couldn't come up with money at the moment, and couldn't increase taxes at this time.

Withholding salaries became the only solution to the predicament in the short term.

In order to reduce the resistance from below, he deliberately excluded the lower-level officials and only let the middle and senior officials and the nobles and royal family members pay the bill.

Anyway, these officials have high gray incomes, and the salaries paid by the court are just a little bit of daily pocket money.

Some people live a lavish life, and the monthly salary they receive may not even be enough to cover the cost of one meal.

"Master Pang, this is inappropriate!
All officials, nobles, and royal family members are not wealthy either. If their salaries are suspended, how will they live?"

A middle-aged censor was the first to object.

The issue of money is not a big deal; the key is that this precedent must not be set.

Once the emperor found out that he could take advantage of officials when he was in financial difficulties, he would be in big trouble.

During the reign of the previous emperor, he uncovered several major cases and made a lot of money every time.

Don’t let Xinjun learn such a trick.

“Ah!” “The court is difficult!
The Ministry of Revenue is out of money now, but the fight to suppress the rebellion cannot stop.

That's it!

It would be difficult to impose direct mandatory regulations, so let everyone donate voluntarily.

As the Prime Minister, I will set an example by donating half a year's salary to support the military."

Pang Hengsheng said with difficulty.

He doesn't want to do anything that would offend others.

If all officials have no objection, there is nothing wrong with moving forward with it.

Now that someone has spoken up, he can no longer insist on his own opinion.

Realizing that the opposition in the court was strong, he decisively chose to retreat to the next best option.

Change compulsory wage arrears into voluntary donations.

With the current preparation, if the court is short of money and the Ministry of Revenue cannot pay salaries in the future, it will not be his responsibility.

"The elder is wise!"

The shouts from all the officials made Emperor Yongning's brows look cold.

He didn't even ask for the emperor's opinion from beginning to end. He was really too arrogant and domineering.

……

Guangxi.

After the great battle, Li Mu became increasingly busy.

The imperial court had not yet sent enough civil servants to take over the local areas, and the officials who had been appointed, upon hearing that they would be taking up their posts in Guangxi, all rushed to pretend to be sick.

Everyone knows this is a mess.

After the war, the place was in ruins. Not only could no money be made, but one might even end up losing money.

They also have to endure the threat of rebels, and if they are not careful they will be killed by them.

No matter how much one wanted to be an official, before the White Lotus Sect was wiped out, Guangxi was a forbidden place for all officials.

If civil officials do not come, local affairs will have to be temporarily placed under military control.

Jing Yifeng had no interest in local governance, and all the pressure fell on the head coach Li Mu and the military supervisor Jia Bo.

The two men made a strategic division of labor, and Jiabo was responsible for all the relief of refugees and the restoration of production.

Li Mu was responsible for the work of pursuing the remnants of the rebels, as well as managing prisoners of war and the families of traitors.

It seems to be biased towards the military, but in fact it is more about people's livelihood.

It is easy to wipe out the remnants of the rebels, but scattered rebels are simply not a threat.

The severely weakened chieftains were unable to resist the butcher knife of the government troops.

In just over a month, Li Mu eliminated dozens of chieftain camps.

The chieftain power under his rule was wiped out.

The imperial court's policy of converting chieftains into officials had not yet been announced. Because they had participated in the rebellion, the chieftain forces east of the Yangtze River were forced to complete the land reform ahead of schedule.

The mastermind was killed with a single knife, but the remaining villagers needed to be carefully identified.

People need to be arranged to identify who are the relatives of traitors and who are the victims of their oppression.

After completing the arrest task, the next step was the land revolution.

According to Li Mu's own wishes, he would naturally distribute the chieftain's land directly to the villagers to solve the problem once and for all.

Unfortunately, this way of playing is not allowed by the gentry group.

In other words, any action to distribute land equally would be considered heresy in the eyes of the gentry and would be suppressed with all their might by the gentry group.

Knowing the seriousness of the problem and unable to withstand the pressure, Li Mu had no choice but to nationalize the land so as not to touch the bottom line of the gentry.

The village slaves became hired households, their political status improved, but their living standards did not improve significantly in a short period of time.

The rent collected by the government seems to be much lower, but in the actual implementation process, the clerks below will still exploit the tenants.

No one can tell whether it will benefit you or not.

After all, every year many people are forced to move to the mountains and their families are destroyed by clerks.

The grassroots people have their own simple logic. If you don’t see any tangible benefits, you will naturally not be able to gain their support.

In addition, there were some unstable elements who were loyal to the chieftains, which caused great trouble to the governance work.

In order to avoid rebellion under his rule, Li Mu had no choice but to divide these people and relocate them to various places.

After an exchange between the various prefectures, the acquaintance society that was originally based on villages was broken, eliminating the possibility of gathering together for rebellion.

But such a large-scale population migration is also a huge project.

Not only does it take a lot of manpower, financial resources and material resources to help them move, but it also tests your organizational skills.

As a result, the military officers below were almost turned into local government officials, busy dealing with miscellaneous matters all day long.

In addition to the great migration, so many prisoners of war and families of traitors cannot be left idle.

The work of reclaiming land is also being carried out vigorously in Guangxi.

A lot of energy was diverted to people's livelihood, and the military inevitably slowed down.

Apart from restoring the local garrison organization step by step, Li Mu did not take any major action.

……

"Commander Li, General Jing, the elder intends to launch a strategic counterattack in the summer.

Our mission was to capture Guangxi and raid the rebels' lair.

If possible, it would be best to cooperate with the troops in Jiangxi and Fujian to recapture Guangzhou Prefecture."

After Jia Bo finished speaking, Li Mu and Jing Yifeng smiled bitterly at each other.

I really think too highly of them.

Although the size of the garrison troops under Li Mu's command has expanded rapidly in recent days, the total strength has exceeded 40,000.

However, an increase in military strength does not mean an increase in combat effectiveness.

The troops that were truly capable of fighting were still the original Yangzhou Camp and Huai'an Camp.

The first garrison troops recruited had just reached the third-line level.

Even on the battlefield, they might not be a match for the elite White Lotus Sect.

These newly recruited troops are simply a mob.

Not to mention letting them go to the battlefield, even serving as auxiliary troops and transporting supplies could only be done as labor.

“Master Jia, you are well aware of the situation in Guangxi.

We have a large number of prisoners of war and families of traitors who need to be heavily guarded, and the people below are not loyal to the court.

If a major war were to break out, the number of mobile forces we could mobilize would not exceed 20,000.

Because the battle line is lengthened, the number of troops actually engaged in combat will continue to shrink.

Attacking one or two rebel states individually is still possible, but attacking multiple places at the same time is courting death!"

Li Mu immediately complained.

Although the imperial court allocated a lot of money and food after the Battle of Guangxi, these were all earned at the cost of their lives.

War means death. Even if you win the battle, people will still die.

At this point in the war, the casualties in the Yangzhou Camp and the Huai'an Camp had each exceeded one thousand.

Some of them fell on the battlefield, while others suffered from acclimatization and lay down as soon as they arrived.

It is easy to fill the gap in manpower, but the combat effectiveness of veterans and new recruits is completely different.

It's really difficult to have a rest period after so much difficulty, but now we have to go to war again.

(End of this chapter)