Fu Shanhe

Chapter 432 Rainy Season
Capital.

After a series of power struggles, the court finally stabilized.

However, the thorny conflict between civil and military officials remains unresolved, and has only been temporarily suppressed.

As expected, Jing Guoliang and Li Yuan became the first and second prime ministers of the new cabinet of the Great Yu Dynasty.

This was the result unanimously chosen by all the officials at the grand court assembly; there were no competitors.

The speed at which the civil service compromised exceeded everyone's expectations.

Those officials who used to be willing to risk their lives to remonstrate and gain fame have kept their mouths shut this time.

The other three cabinet ministers include two from the north and one from the Zhejiang faction.

The Qingliu Party, the largest faction in the government, was eliminated in this round of competition.

Of the six ministries, they managed to secure three seats, but this still couldn't mask their decline.

It wasn't that the Qingliu faction was weak; the main problem was the severe infighting within its own factions.

Everyone wanted to promote their own people, which diluted political power and led to their defeat in the cabinet election.

What the Qingliu Party found most unacceptable was that the emperor actually appointed a relative of the empress as the Left Censor-in-Chief.

In the political hierarchy of civil officials, relatives of the emperor who rose through nepotism were ranked a level below meritorious nobles.

Unfortunately, his opposition was useless. With the death of the Marquis of Wuyang, Emperor Yongning needed to give the Empress Dowager an explanation and had to appoint him to a position with real power.

If two cabinet ministers are from noble families, and another relative of the empress is added, then the cabinet will be completely controlled by the alliance of noble families and relatives of the empress.

The six ministers also held significant power and responsibility, and Emperor Yongning dared not send them away lightly.

Next comes the Left Censor-in-Chief, a position that oversees both the Censorate and the Censorate, a truly high-ranking and powerful post.

Unfortunately, as time went on, the Censorate, which was supposed to oversee all officials, forgot its original powers and responsibilities and became a tool for factional struggles in the hands of the upright officials.

In normal times, they would either impeach people or criticize the emperor, which gave Emperor Yongning a major headache.

Taking advantage of the major reshuffle in the court, they decisively chose to infiltrate the system with their own people.

Not only was the Left Censor-in-Chief a relative of the empress, but the Right Censor-in-Chief was also a meritorious nobleman.

It was obvious that they wanted to use the power of nobles and relatives of the emperor to restrain the behavior of officials who dared to speak out.

It doesn't matter if we can't control it, the situation won't get any worse than it is now anyway.

What makes them important is that they possess the power of impeachment based on mere rumors, which is of great significance in partisan struggles.

To say it's unimportant is just empty talk from a government official.

They're either criticizing others or on their way to being criticized.

Even if it is shut down, it will not affect the normal operation of the imperial court.

Based on past practices in factional struggles, with the addition of two outsiders, the censors will likely direct their criticism at these two newcomers first.

Apart from the Qingliu Party members, no one else has been able to secure the position of Left and Right Censor-in-Chief.

"My esteemed ministers, an urgent report has arrived from Shandong: the rebel army in the Central Plains is poised to advance eastward. Does anyone have a countermeasure?"

Emperor Yongning asked with concern.

New dynasty, new atmosphere.

After the major reshuffle in the imperial court, the efficiency of handling government affairs has improved significantly.

The chief minister and the deputy chief minister both disliked dawdling, and officials followed suit, which passively improved the efficiency of government offices at all levels.

The Qingliu Party, which is best at shirking responsibility and procrastinating, is now keeping a low profile because of its defeat in the political struggle.

"Your Majesty, Shandong has just suffered from war. If the rebels advance eastward at this time, it will inevitably cause a devastating blow to the local people's livelihood."

The best course of action now is to quickly dispatch a general to lead troops to reinforce the area.

At the same time, troops from Jiangnan, Huguang, Shaanxi, and Shanxi were mobilized to quell the rebellion in the Central Plains.

Minister of War Luo Wenbo was the first to propose a solution.

It's decent, nothing particularly amazing, but there's nothing seriously wrong with it either.

This kind of stable solution has always been a favorite among civil servants, the only drawback being that it costs a lot of money.

Neighboring provinces were all mobilized, and the daily military expenditure was a huge sum.

"Minister Luo, you overestimate the rebels."

A single large army could wipe them out; why bother mobilizing so many troops and wreaking havoc in the surrounding provinces?

Putting aside other issues, as long as a major war breaks out, the participating provinces will use this as an excuse to withhold local fiscal revenue.

The imperial treasury was already strained, and it couldn't afford such drastic measures.

Minister of Revenue Lü Lingfeng hurriedly retorted.

Only after taking charge of a household do you realize how expensive firewood, rice, oil, and salt are.

It was thought that with the surge in fiscal revenue, the Ministry of Revenue would become the most lucrative position in the country.

Reality proved them wrong; as the imperial court's revenue increased, its expenses also rose accordingly.

Military spending, in particular, has been growing rapidly.

Putting aside the long-standing mess, rebuilding the Great Wall defenses requires money, suppressing rebellions also requires money, and post-war reconstruction still needs funding.

Unfortunately, these large expenses are all necessary expenditures.

To stop the northern barbarians from advancing south, the Great Wall defense line had to be restored.

Building city defenses is secondary; the key is to expand the number of recruited soldiers.

Except for the five garrisons in Liaodong, which do not need to be reorganized for the time being, all other areas need to expand their military forces.

The four towns of Yulin, Ningxia, Guyuan, and Gansu need to be restored to full strength to deal with the threat from the Guifang tribe in the northwest.

Jizhou, Xuanfu, and Datong are the gateways to the northern frontier. The northern barbarians broke through these three places during their two invasions, so they need to be developed as key areas.

According to the plan, the number of soldiers recruited in Jizhou, Xuanfu and Datong will be expanded from one town to three towns.

Shanxi Town has a special geographical location, and the troops of one town cannot meet the needs, so it needs to be expanded into two towns.

As for the garrison troops that previously played a supporting role, they were completely ignored by the imperial court.

They're okay at doing odd jobs alongside the main force, but they're completely unreliable in terms of combat effectiveness.

Those garrisons that were previously quite capable in combat were wiped out during the two invasions by the Northern Barbarians.

Due to a lack of funding and a limited number of outstanding soldiers within the garrisons, restoring their strength is far more difficult than recruiting soldiers.

In the north, seven more towns were added to the organization, and with the reorganization of the old military towns, the annual maintenance cost will increase by ten million taels of silver.

There's no way around it; maintaining an army is simply more expensive in the north than in the south.

Especially in border areas, grain prices remain high, with rice prices in some areas even reaching ten taels of silver per shi (a unit of dry measure).

The price of flour didn't decrease much either.

The price of coarse grains is slightly lower, but still several times that of those in the south.

Besides the high cost of food, other prices in the north are generally higher than in the south.

Furthermore, due to the different battlefield environment, the north also needed to establish cavalry, which further increased military expenditures.

This ten million taels of silver was additional military expenditure. Combined with the existing allocations to the nine border garrisons, the imperial court's military spending in the north reached an unprecedented thirty million taels of silver. Of course, these are the converted expenditures.

The tax system of Dayu was divided into two categories: in-kind tax and cash tax. The grain, cloth, salt and other supplies needed by the army could be paid from the in-kind tax.

Only the parts that are insufficient need to be purchased from the market.

The amount of cash actually allocated by the Ministry of Revenue was not that much.

In theory, as long as the weather is favorable and prices in the north return to normal, the corresponding military expenditure will be significantly reduced.

Even so, it was still a huge pressure for the Ministry of Revenue.

After all, expanding the army involves more than just manpower; it also requires a large amount of weaponry.

The soldiers' armor alone is a considerable expense.

Cannons and warhorses are even more like money-devouring beasts.

The increased tax revenue from local areas was allocated to the Ministry of Revenue before it even had a chance to remain overnight.

The Ministry of Revenue was already struggling financially, and the large-scale troop mobilization to suppress the rebellion in the Central Plains only increased the pressure on it.

"Prime Minister, what are your thoughts?"

Seeing that the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War were at odds again, Emperor Yongning turned to Jing Guoliang and asked him a question.

Regardless of how wary they were of the nobility deep down, they still had to consider the nobility's opinions when it came to military matters.

Past lessons have proven that civil servants are unreliable.

In fact, this was Emperor Yongning's own judgment.

There were reliable civil officials, but they were killed in factional struggles as soon as they appeared.

With the rise of powerful nobles, better options became available, and the court no longer needed to painstakingly cultivate Confucian generals.

The civil service group does want to cultivate its own people, but it's not clear who is good at military affairs and who is not.

After several failed attempts, the civilian officials' influence in military affairs dwindled.

"Your Majesty, both options have their advantages and disadvantages."

Mobilizing troops from multiple provinces to encircle and suppress the enemy has the advantage of being safe, but the disadvantage is that the cost is too huge.

The rebels have legs; if they can't win, they'll run away.

Sending a garrison to quell the rebellion should be easy; defeating the rebels shouldn't be difficult. But wiping them out completely will take time.

Jing Guoliang gave a watertight answer.

Identity determines one's stance.

When he served as the Governor-General of Fujian and Zhejiang, he could answer according to his true thoughts, but he could not do so when he became the Grand Secretary.

Every word spoken nowadays is subject to political interpretation.

Even the slightest bias will be associated with factional strife.

In order to maintain the stability of the court, he, as the chief minister, had to suppress factional strife, and actively participating in it was absolutely forbidden.

"Then we should draw troops from various places to form a large army to quell the rebellion and resolve the rebellion in the Central Plains as soon as possible."

Emperor Yongning thought for a moment and then spoke.

Even a hero can be brought down by a single penny, let alone the fact that the financial deficit of the Great Yu has always started at millions.

If you're not careful, you can end up with an eight-figure fiscal deficit.

No matter how fast tax revenue grows, it can't keep up with the speed at which the imperial court spends money.

Moreover, the tax revenue growth rate was not as fast as expected.

The main reason was that the common people were too poor, and the gentry and merchants with purchasing power accounted for only a small part of the total population.

Even if they are willing to spend money, their contribution to transaction volume is limited due to their small base.

The war, coupled with the bloodshed of the gentry and wealthy families in the southeastern provinces, left them in dire straits and further impacted consumption.

Sluggish domestic consumption leads to a lack of commercial tax revenue, which in turn affects import and export tax revenue.

In this context, saving money became the mainstream in the imperial court.

……

The Marquis of Hanshui's Residence.

"My lord, a battle report has arrived from the front lines."

Due to the rainfall, the number of soldiers suffering from colds increased significantly, forcing the army to slow down its offensive.

General Li hoped the Protectorate could allocate a batch of medicinal herbs to alleviate the army's urgent need.

Lan Linjie said nervously.

The rainy season in the Indochina Peninsula is hardly a pleasant time.

Hot and humid weather is the easiest time for diseases to develop.

If you are not careful, you will fall ill.

"Tell Li Sanqi that I have given him the medicinal herbs."

The army immediately ceased its attack and chose advantageous terrain nearby to garrison.

Our understanding of the Indochina Peninsula is limited, and we cannot apply past experiences directly.

Deploying troops abroad during this season is irresponsible towards the lives of our soldiers!

Li Mu decisively gave the order.

To understand how terrible the rainy season is in the Indochina Peninsula, just look at the local population.

The vast Indochina Peninsula, with all its countries combined, has a total population of just over ten million.

With over two million square kilometers of land and such a small population, the long rainy season is the culprit.

Rainwater deposited in the jungle, along with the decaying remains of plants and animals, became the culprit for the spread of miasma.

To reduce the spread of miasma, the first thing the reclamation troops did upon arrival was to drain the water and set fires.

However, these developments are mainly concentrated in coastal areas and rarely extend inland.

"As ordered!"

Lan Linjie readily agreed.

In military matters, he knew his abilities were inferior to Li Mu's, so he rarely voiced any objections.

Although stopping the war now means missing the best opportunity to destroy the Kingdom of Siam, the score cannot be settled that way.

The number of soldiers with non-combat capabilities has been severely reduced, and if this war continues, the number of casualties will be even greater.

It's completely unnecessary to take such a big risk for Siam, a small southern country.

Even if the enemy returns with renewed force, the ripples they can create will still not be too great.

……

(End of this chapter)