Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 402 Dong Zhuo is very poor
During this period, Dong Zhuo felt very distressed.

Niu Fu was driven out of Bingzhou, Bai Bo joined forces with the Xiongnu to rebel, Song Jian in Longyou declared himself king and established a Buddhist kingdom, most of the powerful clans in the capital and the three surrounding areas were disobedient, and the officials in Luoyang were also making trouble.

This doesn't even include the problems of rebels like Han Sui and Ma Teng.

The real reason is that we were too poor before...

Dong Zhuo was indeed somewhat poor before. Although he controlled the Three Auxiliary Regions and the Three Rivers, his actual income was not high.

Because the Sanfu and Sanhe regions were inhabited by powerful and wealthy families, each with their own network of connections, county officials couldn't afford to offend them, and under normal circumstances, taxes couldn't be collected—even Liu Hong couldn't collect them back then.

Because he was poor, Dong Zhuo minted his own coins a few years ago.

However, Dong Zhuo minted small coins, which were extremely small and inferior. Five of them together did not even weigh as much as a five-zhu coin... The inner and outer rims were completely absent, and even the characters "five-zhu" could not be discerned.

This inferior currency is now very difficult to spend, and the widespread use of it has led to a lack of vitality in both Chang'an and Luoyang.

Because there is basically no private commercial activity anymore, the market doesn't accept small amounts of money, and the commercial system in the capital region has collapsed.

In particular, after Liu Bei issued Qingzhou coins and Cao Cao sent people to exchange them, these coins became hard currency.

Even if various forces imitate it, they are only copying large coins.

Merchants aren't stupid; they no longer accept small amounts of money. After all, the Qingzhou court doesn't accept inferior currency. Even if they earn a lot of inferior currency with Dong Zhuo, they'll lose a fortune if they exchange it for real money.

This led most of the Kansai merchants to move to Kanto.

The legitimacy of the imperial court was more evident in the economic sphere. After all, it was difficult for the people to build their confidence on warlords. Only with an emperor could there be credibility for the imperial court, and only with the credibility of the imperial court could there be credibility for the currency.

Without the credibility of currency, the transaction system collapsed, and Dong Zhuo became even poorer.

So Dong Zhuo followed Liu Bei's example and ordered his army to impose a comprehensive taxation, which can be described as plunder.

The effect was noticeable; taxes were indeed collected, and at least this year's funds, provisions, and military supplies were plentiful, which satisfied the troops and generals.

The generals were satisfied because they only had to hand over half of their taxes, and the soldiers were satisfied because they could also rob people... since nobody cared anyway.

However, forcibly imposing taxes on everyone offended almost all the powerful clans, and of course, there was a price to pay.

The consequences are already quite evident.

Many people wanted Dong Zhuo dead, and many also said that Dong Zhuo was tyrannical, greedy, and cruel.

The reason was actually because Dong Zhuo collected 20% of their taxes—of course, the actual amount collected after the troops went to the countryside was definitely more than 20%.

Actually, Dong Zhuo had no choice...

He was neither Cao Cao nor Liu Biao. He had never been involved in the circles of children of officials in his youth, so it was already difficult for him to gain the support of powerful clans.

He wanted to learn from Liu Bei, but it wasn't easy for him. There were things Liu Bei could do, but Dong Zhuo could do without any official status or authority.

Just like minting coins and collecting taxes, these operations did indeed require the emperor's endorsement.

Although collecting taxes and collecting protection money are the same thing, collecting taxes is like the emperor offending people, while collecting protection money is like the emperor offending people himself. They are not the same.

The emperor's minting of coins was part of the imperial currency system, while minting coins independently was illegal and a crime; the concepts are different.

Dong Zhuo really wanted to seize Liu Xie from him.

In Dong Zhuo's eyes, Liu Bei was actually a powerful minister of equal strength to him, but because the emperor was in Liu Bei's hands, Liu Bei's policies were implemented more smoothly...

The actual reason was, of course, not like that, but that was how Dong Zhuo understood it.

Chief Secretary Liu Ai also felt that if the emperor could be brought to Luoyang or Chang'an, Dong Zhuo could command the world like Liu Bei, and with even greater legitimacy—Chang'an and Luoyang were the capitals of the Han Dynasty, and the emperor's influence would indeed be greater in the capital. Li Ru shared this view, but offered a different suggestion: "His Majesty is unable to fulfill his filial duties in Qingzhou. The Empress Dowager is still alive, and the ancestral temples and tombs are all within the pass. We might as well first summon him with the pretext of filial piety and righteousness, and General Wei would not be able to refuse."

Indeed, even emperors are expected to practice filial piety. Liu Bei could not prevent Liu Xie from showing respect to his grandmother, nor could he prevent Liu Xie from offering sacrifices at the ancestral temple.

At the very least, we should visit Liu Hong's grave; he was his own father.

It was fine for Liu Bei to take Liu Xie to Mount Tai to worship their ancestors, but after going to Mount Tai, they should have returned to the capital. Liu Bei himself had also said that he had no intention of moving the capital to Linzi.

At that time, Liu Bei said that the world was not stable and that there were not even five provinces out of the fourteen provinces that could pay taxes. He promised that as long as ten provinces paid taxes, he would send the emperor back to the capital.

But now, Dong Zhuo has figured it out—if the Han Dynasty wants to collect taxes from ten provinces, Liu Bei would have to occupy those ten provinces first…

Then there's no other way; we have to seize the emperor.

Or steal it.

Now is the best opportunity. Almost all of Liu Bei's troops have gone to Hebei, and he has very few people at home.

Dong Zhuo made thorough preparations for his trip to Qingzhou to steal people.

First, Jia Xu was invited to Meiyang to join Li Jue in attacking Song Jian. Li Jue is currently stationed in Meiyang.

This was both a response to Jia Xu's campaign against Buddhism and a way to send Jia Xu to the west to prevent him from informing Liu Bei.

Guo Si organized military supplies in Chang'an.

Wang Fang, Li Meng, and others have already gone to Xinfeng, Huayin, and other places to prepare provisions.

Just as Dong Zhuo was preparing to send troops, Lü Bu dispatched Li Su to Chang'an to deliver false information to Dong Zhuo.

Upon hearing that Niu Fu and others had died in battle protecting Empress Dowager Dong, and that Empress Dowager Dong had fallen into the hands of the Xiongnu, Dong Zhuo was both shocked and furious.

—The trip to Qingzhou fell through before it even started.

The Xiongnu actually crossed the river in a large force and even captured Empress Dowager Dong. Cao Cao, Zhang Liao, and others will definitely return to Henan. Their journey eastward will surely be fraught with obstacles.

Dong Zhuo felt even more agitated.

But we still have to send troops; at least the revenge for Niu Fu, Dong Min, and others can be taken, as they were some of Dong Zhuo's closest confidants...

Fortunately, the main force was ready by this time, and Dong Zhuo ordered the entire army to march at full speed towards Luoyang.

However, Jia Xu was still in Chang'an at this time.

Jia Xu knew, of course, that the capital region was in a state of chaos, that Niu Fu was definitely not dead, and that Li Su's report was a lie in Jia Xu's eyes, clearly indicating that Lü Bu was up to something.

But Jia Xu truly didn't know that Empress Dowager Dong had died on her way to Luoyang—something no one could have predicted.

Upon hearing that Dong Zhuo was about to send troops, Jia Xu advised him, "Lord Dong, if the situation is so urgent, we should send General Lü as the vanguard to take control of Mengjin first, so as to prevent the Empress Dowager from being taken to Hanoi by the Xiongnu..."

This was actually a reminder to Dong Zhuo to first send Lü Bu to scout out the situation. No matter what tricks Lü Bu wanted to pull, he had to obey Dong Zhuo's military orders first.

Dong Zhuo agreed, so he sent Li Su back on horseback to relay the order to Lü Bu, while he led his army eastward.

Jia Xu bid farewell to Dong Zhuo and led Zhang Baiqi's men to Meiyang.

As for Jia Xu, as long as Dong Zhuo's army couldn't reach Qingzhou, he didn't need to worry about anything else; he had already done the necessary reminders.

Jia Xu's main task was to seek help from Li Jue to deal with Song Jiancai.

(End of this chapter)