Fu Shanhe

Chapter 197 Outsourcing
Liuzhou Prefecture.

"General, the rebels have lost their courage, and almost all the counties under Liuzhou have surrendered at the first sight of the enemy.

We learned from the captured prisoners that the rebel army's pseudo-capital Guilin was empty and the garrison had no more than 10,000 people.

Since we have already fought our way here, we might as well make persistent efforts to recapture Guilin in one fell swoop, capture the rebel leader alive, and achieve an unprecedented feat!"

Looking at his overly optimistic subordinate, Jing Yifeng rolled his eyes on the spot.

“You believed what the captive said?
We have already reached Liuzhou. As long as the enemy troops are not stupid, they will strengthen the defense of Guilin.

The lack of manpower was a thing of the past. By the time we attacked, the enemy was already prepared.

News came from the rear that the rebels had abandoned Zhen'an and Xunzhou areas and were withdrawing to the rear.

All the strategic goals of this battle have been achieved, so there is no need to continue taking risks.

Even if we really want to attack Guilin, we have to wait for the arrival of reinforcements.

The rebels' lair is not as easy to attack as Liuzhou.

Without enough artillery, what can you use to attack the city?"

Simply analyzing the static battlefield, this is indeed a good time to attack Guilin, but war is dynamic.

The enemy will not sit still and wait for death; the defenders' strength is constantly changing.

There may be only 10,000 defenders in Guilin now, but after they fight their way forward, this number will increase several times.

If a solitary force advances deep into the enemy's territory and fails to capture the enemy's city, the main army will be in danger.

From Jing Yifeng's point of view, there is no need to take risks now.

No matter how great his contribution to quelling the rebellion is, it will be difficult for him to make further progress.

"Sir General, I am only making a suggestion.

You see, the war in Liuzhou has come to an end, and it’s not a good idea to continue to sit idle.

It is difficult to conquer Guilin Prefecture, but it is very easy to take over several county towns.

We will attack in the direction of Guilin, pretending to storm Guilin, to scare the enemy.

Captain Zhu spoke again.

When serving in the army in Dayu, the only way to get promoted and make money is through war.

He made a small fortune from the raid on Liuzhou.

However, there is still a long way to go before achieving financial freedom.

If you don't work hard to make money when the situation is favorable, how can you expect to get rich when the situation is unfavorable?

Profit is always the best driving force.

Except for weapons, equipment and food, all other easily cashable spoils of war were recorded as personal property of the officers and soldiers.

A healthy army must have a complete system for dividing the spoils.

Senior generals became rich, middle-level generals drank wine and ate meat, and the soldiers below could also get a bowl of soup.

"Ok!"

“You’re right, we really can’t sit idle.

How about this, let the army make an all-out attack on Guilin and capture several nearby counties.

Remember to keep the scouts farther away, beware of the enemy sending reinforcements!"

Jing Yifeng said after thinking about it.

As a qualified general of Dayu, he certainly cannot stop his subordinates from getting rich.

Besides, his pockets were not full, and all the spoils he had obtained before were used to fill the logistical gap.

Guangxi is a poor place, there is not much oil and water to be plundered, and if more cities are not conquered, there will not be enough to share.

……

Nanning Prefecture.

"Governor, please urge the court to send officials to take over the area as soon as possible!"

Li Mu said with a tired look on his face.

After receiving the news that the rebels had evacuated, he became busy.

While hunting down the remnants of the rebels, they sent troops to recover lost territory and arranged people to control the local areas.

Without the cooperation of the bureaucratic system, military control can only be implemented brutally.

Although there is previous experience, talent in local management is not easy to come by.

Except for a few military generals who are capable of handling local management work, most of them are forced to do so.

The management style adopted is exactly that of the military and there is no flexibility at all.

For a time, problems arose frequently in various places, making Li Mu extremely anxious.

"Commander Li, please bear with me for a while.

I have already sent people to the court to urge them, but don't have too high expectations.

Even if His Majesty could send officials here, most of them would be people who are not doing well in the court.

Officials with rich experience and strong governance capabilities are needed in all regions.”

Zhang Sihan said with an embarrassed look on his face.

Before, we were worried about how to recover the lost territory, and now we are worried about recovering too much lost territory.

This is not the first time that the court has been asked for someone.

Unfortunately, he did not have enough face, and Guangxi was despised by scholars, so the court could not gather so many officials in a short time.

According to the news he received, in order to gather officials as quickly as possible, the emperor had ordered the selection of officials from among the successful candidates.

Unfortunately, there were few candidates who signed up to stay in Beijing.

I guess even if the news spreads across the country, it may not be able to make up the shortfall.

Unless one is particularly obsessed with being an official, one would choose to avoid the pit at this time.

In other places, being a clean magistrate for three years would earn you 100,000 silver coins.

Guangxi, which had just been baptized by war, probably had to pay for even the tributes to the higher-ups out of its own pocket.

Some areas that were severely affected by the war were even turned into no-man's land.

Not to mention making money, there are hardly any living people around.

Judging from the rough statistics below, the population in various places is less than half of what it was before the war.

Affected by the White Lotus Holy Kingdom's policy of universal military service, the losses of young and strong people in various places were particularly serious. Most of those left behind were the elderly, the weak, women and children, and agricultural production was severely damaged.

In addition to these problems, the war also created a large number of refugees who were waiting for relief from the court.

"Governor, please watch for yourself!
According to rough estimates, the grain deficit in Guangxi this year is more than 1.5 million shi.

What’s worse is that most people don’t have much money. Even if grain merchants bring in grain, they cannot afford the high prices.

It is impossible that these people did not starve to death under the rule of the White Lotus Sect, but hundreds of thousands of them starved to death under the rule of the imperial court!"

Li Mu said something heartbreaking on the spot.

Based on his understanding of Dayu bureaucracy, these guys would never make an effort to deal with the problem as long as they could get away with it.

The literati don't care about the lives of the lower-class people.

At most, when reciting poems or composing essays, he would express his feelings and worry about the country and the people.

The number of officials in the court who truly care about people's livelihood is really too small.

However, these people also have their own weaknesses, which is that they care about their own reputation.

No matter how many people starve to death in secret, no one will care. But once it is exposed in the open, the situation will be different.

No one can afford the political consequences of hundreds of thousands of people starving to death.

Especially for local officials, if hundreds of thousands of people starved to death under their rule, they would be infamous for eternity.

After such a vicious incident, his political opponents in the court did not mind sending him to the guillotine.

"No!"

"It shouldn't have come to this!"

"Commander Li, you can't say that!"

Zhang Sihan quickly denied it.

Deep down in his heart, he hated Li Mu.

All the problems were laid out in the open at once. If they were not resolved, he, the governor, would be the first person responsible.

However, in order to solve the problem, a large amount of money and food is needed.

The grain shortage of 1.5 million shi would be difficult to raise in a short period of time even in the richest Nanzhili.

You should know that the total amount of tax grain in the Dayu Dynasty each year was only 30 million shi.

Affected by the war, the grain tax that the court could collect this year has dropped by at least one-third. It seems that the court still has a lot of grain, but the court has to support more than just Guangxi.

The rice salaries of civil and military officials, the military rations of the nine important border towns, and the many provinces caught in war all require support from the court.

"Governor, I'm not kidding you.

The estimated food gap does not include military rations.

If you don't believe it, just pretend to be a merchant and go among the people.

Before evacuating, the White Lotus rebels sealed off all the grain stores and warehouses in the city.

All the food that could be taken away was taken away, and what could not be taken away was burned.

The now recovered areas such as Zhen'an and Xunzhou are all a mess.

Don't expect to fill the gap with military rations. Even if the soldiers don't eat or drink, they can't feed so many mouths.

If no solution can be found, I will have no choice but to withdraw my troops from these places and report the matter to the court truthfully!"

Li Mu said indifferently.

It's not that he is aggressive, it's mainly because the local people can't wait.

The rebels' actions were too vicious, and the people could not sustain themselves for long relying solely on their own food reserves.

Some city residents who had no food stored were now waiting for the rice to be cooked.

In order to stabilize the situation, he carried out post-war reconstruction through work-for-relief, and at the same time used the seized grain to reopen grain stores.

However, this can only solve the immediate problem, and the general trend of food shortage in Guangxi has not changed.

If timely measures are not taken, the situation in Guangxi will collapse before the end of the year.

"Commander Li, I can only do my best.

However, Benfu was demoted to Guangxi and was not well received in the court.

It is almost impossible to convince the emperor and the cabinet to allocate so much grain.

We still need your help to overcome this difficult time.”

Zhang Sihan said helplessly.

Facts have proved that none of the demoted officials can get a good job.

Even though he knew in advance that it would be difficult to be the Governor of Guangxi, he did not expect it to be so difficult.

The rebels' hasty retreat caused a big trouble just by moving the food stores in the city.

If the enemy had more time and took away the food from the countryside, the situation would have been even worse.

“I will write to my uncle and father-in-law and ask them to help run it.

However, the money and grain are managed by the civil officials, and their support alone is not enough if the court wants to urgently transfer grain.”

Li Mu said frankly.

Now all places are asking the court for money and grain, but Dayu’s finances are not prosperous.

The palms and backs of the hands are all made of flesh and blood. Every place is important, and it is also difficult at the top level.

"I will be responsible for talking to Lord Xu.

We have performed well on the battlefield, so it should not be difficult to gain his support.

However, the gap of 1.5 million shi is too big. It is good enough that the elder can provide us with an additional 500,000 shi.

In addition to seeking help from the imperial court, you should take more measures, Governor, to encourage merchants to transport grain to Guangxi."

Jabo said with a serious look.

Knowing the seriousness of the problem, he did not add insult to injury this time.

However, coming up with a solution gave Zhang Sihan a headache.

It sounds easy to encourage merchants to transport grain to Guangxi, but the problem is that there are only a few cats and dogs left in the Guangxi business community.

These people can solve the gap of 1,800 stones.

Expecting them to solve the gap of hundreds of thousands of stones is simply asking for trouble.

The most important thing is that Zhang Sihan has no money!

All the conditions that can be offered now are empty promises.

Having served as an official in the central government for many years, he knew that there was a lack of communication between the grain supply from various places and that the two sides lacked sufficient trust.

“Thank you both for your support!

I will immediately issue an imperial decree that as long as more than 10,000 shi of grain are transported to Guangxi within a year, merchant licenses will be issued.

From now on, all those who do business in Guangxi will be taken care of!"

Seeing the big picture that Zhang Sihan had drawn, Li Mu was a little amused.

It would be strange if businessmen would buy into such a crude promise.

The current situation is not just about transporting the food, but also about ensuring that it is sold at a low price.

If we look at it purely from an economic perspective, they are completely losing money by doing this business.

"Governor, merchants are always looking for profits, and your promise is not tempting enough.

Instead of directly issuing a notice, it would be better to send someone to contact the big merchants in the southeast region and promise them a favor in private.

It doesn't require too much effort. If one family sends a boatload of food over, most of the problems will be solved.

If the governor is willing to outsource the government-run mines, we can persuade the merchants in Southern Zhili to solve the shortage of 500,000 shi.”

Li Mu said tentatively.

The profitability of Dayu’s state-owned enterprises is a mess.

If one had not personally checked the accounts, no one would have dared to believe that the highly profitable Nanning Silver Mine only contributed more than 3,000 taels of profit to the imperial court each year.

The total profit contributed by dozens of silver mines, large and small, in the entire Guangxi region was less than 10,000 taels.

This is the case for the highly profitable silver mines, and the profits contributed by other minerals are even less.

The lack of losses was the result of the rectification during the reign of Emperor Tianyuan.

Instead of enriching those bureaucrats, it is better to outsource it, and the court can also save on regulatory costs.

However, if this is done, the pressure will be on Zhang Sihan.

It was only a matter of time before he was impeached by the censor.

"Commander Li, please take charge of this.

The governor can outsource Guangxi's mineral resources, but the rent must be paid in grain.

However, since it is outsourced, the court cannot suffer any loss.

At its peak, the total profit from minerals in Guangxi was more than 30,000 taels, so we will calculate it based on 30,000 taels.

Adding taxes and various levies, it would be about 50,000 taels.

I remember that the price of rice in Jiangnan has always fluctuated around five cents per stone. The price of coarse grains can be half as cheap, and the price of bran is even cheaper.

Considering the current high food prices and increased transportation costs.

According to the combination of 30% coarse grains and 70% dregs of rice, the governor gave 300,000 shi of rent to the governor every year.

As long as they transport 900,000 shi of grain within the year, I will contract these minerals to them for three years.

And we guarantee that during this period, there will be no tax levies from the government offices!"

Zhang Sihan said with a cruel heart.

If the money and grain allocated by the imperial court is not enough, we can only find a way ourselves.

As for the fact that doing so would infringe upon the interests of the Ministry of Revenue and the Tax Commissioner, he no longer cared about that.

“Commander Li, Guangxi’s situation is special, and only a few people can afford to buy food.

All the good rice is used for relief. No amount of food will be enough to fill this hole.

After adding the leftovers, the food for one person could save his life..."

“Governor, no need to say more.

You have more experience than me in governing the local area, so just do it according to your wishes.

For the sake of the people of Guangxi, I will do my best to make this happen! "

Li Mu interrupted Zhang Sihan without waiting for him to finish explaining.

I thought that exchanging grain for chaff to help disaster victims was the first idea of ​​that gentleman, but now it seems that there is clearly a precedent.

But it's normal to think about it. The money and grain allocated by the court was not enough, and they couldn't let the victims starve to death in large numbers.

Taking extraordinary measures is also a last resort.

Zhang Sihan's approach was fair and aboveboard; at least he did not try to make money at this time.

(End of this chapter)