A son who doesn't resemble his father? Love you, old man, see you at Xuanwu Gate!

Chapter 28 Removing the Fuel
night.

The Wei River is very beautiful.

The lights of the various camps of the Northern Army reflected on the vast surface of the Wei River, creating a dazzling and splendid world.

In the cool breeze of mid-autumn, military flags fluttered and bugles sounded, creating a magnificent military camp atmosphere, but without the desolate and murderous aura of a battlefield.

Liu Ju's attitude towards the three generations of the Li family—Li Guang, Li Gan and his son, and even Li Ling—was very ambiguous.

Putting aside other matters, in official history, Li Guang believed that Wei Qing ruined his chance to be ennobled through military achievements, so he committed suicide. Li Gan, on the other hand, believed that Wei Qing had caused his father to die unjustly, so he rebelled against his superior and injured Wei Qing.

Li Gan stood up for his father, and Huo Qubing stood up for his uncle. During a hunt at Ganquan Palace, Huo Qubing killed Li Gan with an arrow. This forced Huo Qubing to temporarily leave Chang'an to avoid trouble, and he died of the plague while away from home.

Huo Qubing's importance in the Han-Xiongnu War is self-evident. The death of this jewel of the empire had a significant impact on the entire Han-Xiongnu battlefield.

Later, Li Ling, the grandson of Li Guang and nephew of Li Gan, bore a resemblance to Huo Qubing, which alarmed Emperor Wu of Han, who thought that a brilliant talent had reappeared.

But a lie is still a lie. Li Ling did not possess Huo Qubing's ability and charisma to achieve unparalleled feats. He was defeated and surrendered in a battle, and after the Li family was massacred, he completely submitted to the Xiongnu.

Liu Ju's only assessment of the three generations of the Li family was that they were tragic. Perhaps it was at the moment when Li Guang accepted the seal of the King of Liang that fate and destiny dictated that he never stood on the Li family's side again.

However, if we're talking about pitiable figures, Liu Ju is not pitiable at all. Li Guang's failure to keep his promise, Li Gan's recklessness, and Li Ling's arrogance are all not worthy of pity.

Liu Ju had originally considered whether to deal with Li Guang and his son in advance to avoid the death of the empire's jewels, but now it seems he was overthinking it; they had already made their choice.

Behind Zhang Tang was Gongsun Hong, and behind Gongsun Hong was the Crown Prince Liu Ju. Gongsun Hong was the mastermind behind Li Cai's death, but Liu Ju was the real culprit.

Starting with Li Guang, the Li family was obsessed with the position of marquis. Originally, Li Cai was the Imperial Censor, only one step away from becoming the Marquis of Bao, the Prime Minister. In the blink of an eye, he became a death row inmate, and everything vanished.

Li Guang was already in his sixties. In an era where most people lived to be less than forty, and were already in their coffins, Li Guang was indeed old. But to dream of being ennobled and rewarded with military merit under the Han Dynasty's "first to capture the enemy" military merit system was no different from a pipe dream.
The only hope for the Li family was the second generation, Li Gan, and the third generation, Li Ling. Apart from the emperor personally leading an expedition and the Xiongnu invading Chang'an, Liu Ju could not imagine the possibility of being enfeoffed as a marquis while in the Southern Army.

Clearly, the Li family would not accept charity, preferring to remain unranked as marquises rather than be granted a marquisate under the command of their enemies, Wei Qing and Huo Qubing.

Liu Ju didn't know how to comment on Li Guang's choice; he could only say he respected it and offered his blessings.

Huo Qubing lamented the loss of a capable general, while Wei Qing gradually recovered and slowly said, "In the court meeting, His Majesty appointed two merchants, Dongguo Xianyang and Kong Jin, and his trusted courtier Sang Hongyang as Grand Ministers of Agriculture to carry out salt and iron reforms. Merchants are now serving as officials in the central government. His Majesty is truly broke."

Salt and iron monopoly.

At present, it can be described as a near-naked plunder of the princes, marquises, and royal ministers. The fact that such a situation has occurred naturally indicates that the empire's finances are facing extreme difficulties.

Even though they were in the army, Wei Qing and Huo Qubing heard that His Majesty had spent three million taels of gold to build four palaces: Jianzhang Palace, Gui Palace, Bei Palace, and Mingguang Palace, as places to see and enjoy.

This was the emperor's choice, and the money came to him of its own accord; no one in the world could say anything about it.

But upon closer examination, this year marks the eighteenth year since Your Majesty ascended the throne. Emperors Xiaowen and Xiaojing, through a policy of non-interference and minimal disruption, spent nearly forty years creating a prosperous era where people were well-off and cities were overflowing with granaries. This laid the foundation for Your Majesty to realize your ambitions and demonstrate your capabilities, but it has also nearly exhausted the resources available. During the Jianyuan era, the entire Dong'ou tribe in the southeast relocated, and Your Majesty also mediated the war between Minyue and Nanyue, causing considerable hardship and inconvenience in the Jianghuai region.

During the Yuanguang era, Tang Meng, Sima Xiangru, and others were successively ordered to open up the southwestern barbarian route. They mobilized tens of thousands of people to carve out a road over a thousand miles through the mountains, but the project was not completed after several years. "It cost tens of millions of dollars, and the treasury was increasingly in need."

Furthermore, since the second year of Yuanguang, in order to carry out the plot of Mayi, Your Majesty did not hesitate to personally go to the dangerous place, and mobilized an unprecedented army of 300,000 to personally lead the expedition, which cost a lot of money, but returned empty-handed.

Furthermore, due to the conflict between the Han and the Xiongnu, the war dragged on for more than a decade, and the expenditure of money and food on the war was astronomical.

Before the sixth year of Yuanshuo, Wei Qing led his army to attack several times. Although he killed and captured tens of thousands of Xiongnu, the tens of thousands of Xiongnu who surrendered after being captured were all rewarded in the interior. Their food and clothing were provided by the local government. All the prisoners were supported by the local government. At the same time, the Han soldiers received more than 200,000 gold coins in total. As a result, "the Ministry of Agriculture was exhausted, and the taxes were depleted, which was still not enough to support the soldiers." Therefore, Wei Qing had to establish a new military merit title to transfer the rewards from the army to the common people.

……

The imperial court's annual expenditures were often "hundreds of millions," or tens of billions of coins, while its annual revenue was only five billion coins. It was able to live beyond its means for nearly twenty years. It must be said that the wealth left by Emperors Xiaowen and Xiaojing was truly substantial.

His Majesty has made the people of the world pay too high a price for his grand vision of a prosperous and sage-king era. Yan Yi, the Grand Minister of Agriculture who is in charge of the nation's finances, has submitted countless memorials, but none of them have been able to persuade His Majesty to slow down his pursuit of his dream.

“The salt and iron monopoly,” Liu Ju said softly.

Liu Ju supported the idea that certain industries should be state-run, not just salt and iron, but also tea, wine, vinegar, coal, and minerals.

However, we do not support blind government monopoly. All resource monopolies are essentially a redistribution of resources. Under the monopoly system, who suffers the most?

First, the princes, marquises, and royal ministers who originally possessed resources had a large portion of their income taken away. Second, small and medium-sized merchants were stripped of their salt and iron trading rights due to their limited power and were unable to continue cooperating with the court like wealthy merchants such as Dongguo Xianyang and Kong Jin. Finally, the common people were affected. Once a necessity was monopolized, prices soared, quality declined, and the original convenience disappeared.

Once the beneficiaries and losers are identified, the problem becomes quite simple. Although the princes, marquises, royal ministers, and merchants suffered heavy losses, they all had ways to mitigate the risks and losses. The most difficult situation was faced by ordinary people, who not only did not receive better quality goods but also incurred burdens they did not have before, making their lives even more difficult than before the reforms.

"When Father Emperor travels with merchants, it is no different from asking a tiger for its skin. Who knows if the man is after the tiger's skin, or if the tiger is after the man?"

Liu Ju didn't know whether his father was stupid or wicked, but now that he did, he felt he had to do something. "Uncle."

"Ah."

"Tell the Prime Minister that we oppose the court's assessment of salt and iron officials in various prefectures and counties under the salt and iron monopoly."

They oppose centralized sales and permit private sales in remote areas.

They opposed counties and prefectures imposing additional corvée labor to meet salt and iron smelting targets, and prohibited local officials from imposing exorbitant taxes and levies on the people when they failed to meet the tax revenue targets set by the imperial court.

If any of the above conditions cannot be met, then the salt and iron monopoly itself will be opposed.

(End of this chapter)