Fu Shanhe

Chapter 225 Lijin
The next morning, the first ray of sunlight shone across the earth, announcing the end of the Battle of Guangzhou.

The real enemy arrived at the front line, and the remaining rebels in the city lost their value of continuing to exist and were quickly wiped out by the government troops.

A beautiful battle report appeared in the hands of Marquis Wuyang.

Twelve thousand rebels were killed, twenty-three thousand were captured, and one city was recaptured.

As for the specific combat process, it was naturally just mentioned briefly.

This is the experience summed up by Li Mu. If you want to highlight your importance, you don’t have to deliberately emphasize your own contributions, but the battle report must be mysterious enough.

Anyway, we have the results in front of us, and victory is victory. If the outside world doesn't understand, it's because our level is not good enough.

In the officialdom, few people are willing to admit that they are incompetent. If you don't understand how to win, just imagine bragging.

If the battle process is described too straightforwardly, there is a high probability that some people will think: I can do it too.

For Li Mu, who wants to control the discourse power in the war, he must pretend to be powerful and fool the civil servants so that he can prevent these guys from causing trouble.

……

“Chu Er, Cheng Jiliang, Commander Li has already told me about the contributions you two made in capturing the city.

Well done!

The imperial court has never been stingy in rewarding loyal people.

I now appoint Chu Er as the guerrilla general and Cheng Jiliang as the Guangzhou magistrate. I hope you two will continue to work hard and serve the court..."

The rewards were very generous, and Chu Er and Cheng Jiliang became the most eye-catching ones.

It is not easy to get an official position in Dayu. No matter how great the contributions of the surrendered generals are, they are basically given empty positions and sent away.

Under normal circumstances, such a personnel appointment would never be approved.

This scene before our eyes was obviously done on purpose for the outside world to see, with the intention of buying bones at a high price.

With the loss of Wuchang Prefecture, no one dared to underestimate the rebels anymore, and the officials' attitudes towards them also underwent subtle changes.

Realizing that killing people blindly would not solve the problem, Li Mu took the opportunity to propose political inducement for the rebel leaders to surrender.

Chu Er and Cheng Jiliang are just the beginning. The imperial court will recruit more rebel generals in the hope of using political means to undermine the rebels' morale.

"Thank you for your kindness, sir!
Thank you..."

Chu Er and Cheng Jiliang said excitedly.

There is no doubt that such an appointment is undoubtedly beyond expectations.

Except for the early years of the founding of the country, few of the subsequent surrendered generals were directly granted fourth-rank official positions.

"You guys go down!"

Marquis Wuyang waved his hand and said.

He was able to show up in person because of Li Mu's face. These two little people were not worth the governor's attention.

No matter how great the achievements are, it is useless. You can say that you will let bygones be bygones, but a stain is still a stain.

No matter what, they can't be considered as one of our own. Even if they enter the imperial court, they can't be trained as a priority.

This is also a good thing for the parties involved. Rebel generals need to keep a low profile. If they are promoted and reused all the way, they will not even have the chance to have a good end.

The civil officials were the best at settling scores after the event. Even the orthodox military generals of the court were suppressed, let alone these surrendered generals.

It was announced to the public that the two were loyal men lurking within the rebel army. However, such lies could only serve as psychological comfort for the parties involved, and the officials in the court would not believe them at all.

The series of bad things the two did after joining the rebels could not be brought to the surface.

After a series of rewards and awards, Marquis Wuyang completed the finishing work of his first major achievement since taking office.

When the celebration banquet began, the smiles disappeared from the faces of the officials in the room.

"Zhu Jingyi, that bastard died easily, but the situation in Huguang deteriorated rapidly.

After the fall of Wuchang, the rebels' next plan was either to attack Jiangnan or to march north to the Central Plains.

If a war breaks out, the government's finances will further deteriorate. If they are unable to support us, the three provinces should raise their own military funds to help the government.

My Lords, do you have any countermeasures?"

Marquis Wuyang asked with concern.

Long before he took office, the cabinet had made it clear that it hoped he would be able to raise military funds within the three provinces and reduce the burden on the court as much as possible.

It’s not that they are shirking responsibility, but the court really has no money.

War is a double-edged sword. The economies of Guangdong and Guangxi were severely damaged, but the rebels also helped to clean up the local cancer.

The power of the local gentry group was severely weakened, and many hidden land and mineral resources gradually surfaced.

Taking Guangxi as an example, before the war, the imperial court had about 10 million acres of registered land, of which one third was military land.

After the war, military control was adopted. Without the obstruction of gentry and chieftains, the number of acres of farmland was re-checked and directly climbed to more than 32 million acres.

Even if Li Mu took the opportunity to expand the area of ​​military farms, the amount of civilian farmland that could provide tax revenue for the court was still nearly 20 million acres.

There is no data to support the situation in Guangdong, but I think the situation is similar.

Theoretically, if local production can be restored, the income from land tax alone can be tripled.

The actual increase would be much greater, since the number of gentry enjoying tax exemptions has now been mostly reduced.

If all these taxes could be collected, Guangxi, which had always needed subsidies from the imperial court, would be able to achieve financial self-sufficiency.

Guangdong, which is already wealthy, and Fujian, which was less affected by the war, have more areas to explore.

In theory, it is completely feasible to pool the strength of the three provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian to support an army to suppress the rebellion.

As the governor-general of three provinces, in addition to suppressing the rebellion, Marquis Wuyang was also responsible for solving the financial difficulties for the court.

"My Lord, it is only natural for the imperial court to raise military funds on its own when it is in financial difficulty.

It just takes time to resume production. Guangxi has just been hit by a war, so I’m afraid it won’t be able to collect taxes from the people in a short period of time.”

Zhang Sihan immediately complained.

Currently, Li Mu is the garrison with the best production recovery in Guangxi. With a large amount of free labor, he has become the largest landlord in Guangxi in disguise.

The population in other regions has dropped sharply, there is a serious shortage of labor, and a large amount of land has been abandoned.

Due to financial difficulties, local administrative institutions have not yet recovered, and it is extremely difficult to collect taxes.

The newly added land only expands the tax base, which does not mean that the tax revenue can be increased immediately.

Agricultural tax revenue is not a problem, and there is even less hope for other aspects. All the mineral resources in the province were packaged and leased out. It seemed like a huge profit at the time, but now it seems like a huge loss.

The exact amount of profit was unclear, but Zhang Sihan knew that Li Mu made a profit of hundreds of thousands of taels of silver just by reselling the property.

If it weren't for this money, which was used by Li Mu to fill the gap in military expenditure, the civil servants would have been in chaos long ago.

Not to mention commercial taxes. With Dayu's pitiful tax rate, collecting commercial taxes is simply a thankless task.

“If there are difficulties, find a way out.

This is a special period, so we can take special measures. When it comes to taxation, we cannot do it the same way as before.

The situation in Huguang is worthy of reference. In order to prepare for militia training, they not only solicited donations from the gentry, but also levied likin. We can also follow their example!
The situation in Guangdong and Guangxi was special, so although they could ask for donations, they still had to collect lijin. Depending on the fertility of the land, an additional 10 to 50 wen per mu of land was levied, and the gentry could not enjoy the privilege of exemption.

For industries with huge profits such as tea and alcohol, a tax of 20% of the price will be imposed. If an assessment is not possible, a tax in kind will be imposed.

This is a special period, and the sea ban can be slightly relaxed. As long as 30% of the tax is paid, merchants will be allowed to go to sea.

Of course, I am only giving examples. You are responsible for formulating the specific collection rules.

Time must be quick, I have a feeling the rebels will make a big move soon, Jiangnan area is in danger!"

Marquis Wuyang said with a serious expression.

He did not want to stir up trouble as soon as he took office. However, the army below was crying out for food, and the funds allocated to him by the court were not enough.

This idea was discussed yesterday when I called together my old colleagues.

It was inevitable that the interests of the interest groups would be affected. However, the gentry groups in Guangdong and Guangxi suffered heavy losses at this moment and were completely unable to stop the imperial court from levying taxes.

The base camp of the gentry group was now facing the threat of the rebels. The White Lotus Sect's butcher knife did not discriminate between Jinshi and Juren, and anyone with money and food would be targeted for confiscation.

Under such circumstances, if commercial taxes are not increased, their own nest will be wiped out by the rebels.

The civil servants who represented the interests of the gentry group had split internally, so the resistance to the temporary increase in taxes was not so intense.

As for the Huguang militia's collection of lijin, that was just an excuse. After all, no one wanted to be the first to be criticized for raising taxes.

There are so many folk militias, and it's not just one or two companies that levy fees on the lower levels. The only difference is the objects of taxation.

It's not unfair to put the blame on them.

If you want to bring up old issues in the future, the parties involved will almost certainly be dead, and you won’t have a chance to argue the difference.

"Governor, this is a serious matter. If it gets out, it will cause a big mess!"

The Governor of Fujian hurriedly persuaded.

The Guangdong and Guangxi regions could be tossed about as they pleased, the power of the local gentry was severely damaged, and those who survived were all in mourning.

Officials serving in the court have either returned to observe mourning or are on the way to applying for it.

In a short period of time, he lost his voice in the court.

The struggle in officialdom is cruel, and the vacant positions after they leave will naturally be filled by others.

After the mourning period is over, even if they are able to return to the court, there will not be so many positions for them.

This means that most officials in Guangdong and Guangxi will not be able to enter the center of power in the future.

In this context, keeping a low profile becomes the best choice.

Besides, everyone was in mourning at this time, and according to etiquette, they could not go out to join the group. Even if they were dissatisfied, they could only hold it in for the time being.

All the recovered areas are now under military control. To incite the people to cause trouble at this time is to give the government troops a victory.

After investigation, they were accused of colluding with rebels, and immediately their property was confiscated and their entire family was exterminated.

But it’s different in Fujian.

The rebels did not attack, and the power of the local gentry was not weakened. They did not feel the pain, and everyone was still thinking about their own interests.

"Don't tell me these things. The court keeps you here to do things.

The county magistrate ruins the family, and the prefect wipes out the clan.

Are all the rumors circulating among the people false?

Whether you can't do it or you don't want to do it, you know it clearly in your hearts.

I don't have time to inquire about how to do it specifically, but in short, each province must raise enough money and food.

You can also choose not to do it. If you fail to complete the mission anyway, you will be the ones to lose your heads when the court calls you to account.

According to the respective situations of the three provinces, I now assign the fundraising tasks for this year:
Guangxi Province was poor, and was responsible for raising 800,000 taels of silver, 1.2 million dan of grain, and 500 dan of sugar...

Guangdong Province has not yet been completely recovered, so you are not allowed to provide grain. You only need to raise 1.8 million taels of silver.

Fujian has the heaviest task. You need to raise 1.5 million taels of silver, 2 million shi of grain, and 30,000 shi of grain...

These figures have all been calculated by me. Now you three provinces can intercept local taxes. Although it is a little difficult to complete the task, it is not impossible. "

Marquis Wuyang said with disdain.

Not wanting to take responsibility and trying to push it onto him is simply a dream.

The civil servants themselves claim to be brave and willing to take on responsibilities. He is a relative of the emperor, so he does not need to follow this rule.

If the problem cannot be solved, just delegate the task directly to lower levels.

If enough money and grain cannot be raised, the officials in charge will be held accountable and their property will be used to make up for the shortfall.

As a relative by marriage, he does things in a rough and unskilled manner.

"My Lord, Guangdong has been affected by the war and is seriously short of officials. The only place with a complete staff is Qiongzhou Prefecture.

Even if I want to levy taxes, no one will implement it!"

Guangdong Governor An Qingfeng immediately complained.

The governors of Guangxi and Fujian were worried and could assign tasks to local government offices. But this poor governor had insufficient staff and could not even assign tasks to his subordinates.

“The Great Yu Dynasty lacks everything except people who want to be officials.

There are so many officials who have returned from the court to mourn their hometown. It shouldn’t be difficult for you to visit them in person and ask them to do their part for their hometown, right?

The current situation is so dangerous. If the Jiangnan region becomes corrupt, Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian will not be able to remain unscathed.

Don't forget that they are in mourning now. If the rebels come to kill them, they will have nowhere to escape!"

Marquis Wuyang said coldly.

Destined to be a villain, he simply didn't bother to restrain himself. As a relative by marriage, having a bad reputation is not a bad thing.

Anyway, what he said was all true. In Dayu, where Confucian culture was prevalent, all scholars advocated "pure filial piety".

If he ran away during the mourning period, his reputation would be ruined. Not to mention continuing to be an official, he couldn't even mix in the gentry circle.

In essence, this is a disguised threat, telling everyone almost explicitly that if they fail to raise enough funds, the rebels will attack them.

“The food is getting cold, so we are eating and chatting.

The issue of fundraising is actually not that big of a problem.

Guangdong and Fujian have superior geographical locations and developed private economies.

It’s just that the imperial court’s previous maritime ban has affected tax revenue, otherwise this item alone would be able to accomplish most of the fundraising task.

As far as I know, the price of a shipload of silk or tea shipped to Japan or Southeast Asia can increase several times.

Even in Guangxi, there are trade routes to the Indochina Peninsula.”

Seeing the tense atmosphere in the room, Li Mu smiled and tried to smooth things over.

It is naturally difficult to complete the fundraising task by focusing on agricultural taxes. However, if the goal is to target maritime trade, the gap will not be so big.

(End of this chapter)