White-robed Minister

Chapter 269 0267 [Only Wang Anshi, this soft target, can be bullied]

This small change is just the beginning.

Upon returning to the Privy Council from the Wende Hall, Xu Lai immediately summoned Wang Cun for questioning: "Even if we don't use the Jianghuai troops and instead recruit soldiers from the capital region, eastern Beijing, and western Beijing, these people still need to be paid. How much do you think they will receive?"

"No more than 50%," Wang Cun said. "50% is the best outcome; most will only receive 30% or 40%. Not only will they only receive 30% or 40% of their travel rations, but their daily rations in the capital will also be insufficient. This applies not only to conscripted soldiers from other regions but also to the imperial guards."

This is not simply a matter of deductions; it also stems from the country's financial difficulties!

Whether it was the salaries of civil and military officials or the rations of soldiers in the capital, they were all allocated by the Three Departments to the Grain and Provisions Bureau.

Take soldiers' rations and pay as an example. The Cavalry and Infantry Special Office was responsible for auditing and supervising, while the Cavalry and Infantry Grain and Supplies Office was responsible for issuing vouchers (raw vouchers, cooked vouchers, and so on).

Soldiers would then take their tickets to designated warehouses to collect their pay and rations. During distribution, officials were present to supervise the process. The imperial court also frequently dispatched eunuchs or envoys to inspect the distribution. Withholding pay and rations was a capital offense.

The formulation, statistics, allocation, auditing, supervision, distribution, and inspection of grain and salary were all assigned to different departments.

The entire process was flawless, seemingly eliminating any possibility of deductions.

Ha ha.

Last August, the emperor personally issued an order: the monthly rations for all armies must not be reduced, and those who disobey will be put to death.

Why did the emperor issue an edict reiterating that withholding military rations could be punishable by death?

Because "the monthly rations requested by all the officials and soldiers in the capital were, in all cases, insufficient in quantity." Even the rations of the imperial guards were being withheld!

The warehouses were "always short of provisions" when distributing rations to soldiers.

This has become standard practice, and the on-site supervisors are used to it. Generally, 30% to 40% is deducted directly during the warehouse distribution process.

Two years ago, Wang Anshi promoted the "sitting warehouse method," which had already existed in some areas.

That is, before the soldiers even left the granary after receiving their rations, they had to sell a portion of it back to the government at a low price, according to the proportion of rations they received.

The "seated grain system" was based on the idea that it was inconvenient for soldiers to carry too much grain with them. Converting surplus grain into money would benefit both the government and the soldiers.

In reality, the soldiers themselves didn't even have enough to eat. They could only sell the grain to the government at a low price, and after converting the grain into cash, they had to buy more grain at a high price.

How did the military officers embezzle funds?

False reporting, concealment, and fraudulent claims!

With all these factors combined, the actual amount of rations and pay soldiers received could never exceed 50%. Often it was even less than 40%, and getting 20-30% was considered good.

Does this explain why those "veteran soldiers" in the capital don't work?

Damn it, the prices in the capital are so high, I still have to work to earn money to support my family. If we really relied on the government's meager salary of two or three tenths to make ends meet, my whole family would starve.

Does this explain why civil and military officials dared not punish the "veteran soldiers" in the capital?

If they dare to impose severe punishments, it would be tantamount to cutting off the livelihoods of countless Imperial Guards, local militia, and their entire families!

No matter how much the Imperial Guards and Garrison Troops in the capital reduce their numbers, improve their discipline, and train rigorously, they can't improve their combat effectiveness much. As long as they remain in the capital and as long as they don't receive enough rations, they will always be the same wretched creatures.

Because their minds are entirely focused on how to work and earn money. If they don't earn money, their families will have no way to survive.

After the Imperial Guards were dispatched to local areas, especially to border states where battles were frequent, they actually received more rations and pay. However, this increase in rations and pay came at the cost of reduced combat effectiveness.

A sane military commander would keep some of the soldiers for combat while using the rest to earn money. They wouldn't just make the soldiers do heavy labor; there were even specialized "embroidery soldiers."

You heard right, it's that embroidery.

Let the soldiers earn money by doing embroidery!

In a border guard unit, 30% to 50% of the soldiers are there to work and earn money.

So when the 100,000-strong army collapsed, and the Western Xia felt that there were too many prisoners to handle, they only selected soldiers with special skills to take away, and the scene was quite spectacular.

To survive, the soldiers used all sorts of unique skills, including playing musical instruments and singing, which were all skills they had acquired to earn money.

Therefore, Wen Yanbo commented on the previous official document, saying, "The current law is not inappropriate."

Wen Yanbo wasn't afraid of offending powerful figures; rather, he knew very well that even if troops were transferred from the capital region, eastern Beijing, or western Beijing, their rations would still be reduced. At most, they would be more adapted to the capital's climate, and fewer would die of illness or freezing.

Wang Cun said to Xu Lai: "Since Prime Minister Wang rectified the granary officials, although some results have been achieved, it has only slightly alleviated the situation."

Wang Anshi implemented a policy of "high salaries to encourage integrity," which increased the salaries of some officials and paid wages to some officials who had previously worked for free.

The first beneficiaries were the warehouse clerks of various warehouses.

At the same time, the penalties were increased, with those who embezzled more than ten strings of cash being exiled.

This method works, but only to a limited extent.

The reason why the warehouse directly deducted 30-40% when distributing rations to soldiers was not because the warehouse officials embezzled all of it. Rather, the warehouse itself was short of money and grain, and even the amount of grain delivered from outside the warehouse was insufficient (the reason given was transportation losses).

In particular, military officers escorting grain shipments would collude with officials in charge of inspection when the grain was stored.

Can you deal with the military officer in charge of escorting the prisoners?

Punishing one or two typical cases is acceptable, but widespread penalties will drive people away from transporting grain in the future. The entire grain transport system will be paralyzed!

Because those military officers escorting the shipment were also unfortunate and miserable. They faced enormous risks while escorting the shipment, and there were too many messy things along the way, so they had to collude with warehouse officials to make up for their losses.

Overall, it's all about committing crimes.

But from different perspectives, everyone has their own difficulties.

It has become a systemic, structural, and institutional problem!

Wang Cun continued, "The warehouses are impossible to manage. To manage the warehouses, we must first manage the grain transport system, and the entire canal transport system must be reformed. Reforming the canal transport system, however, involves corvée labor. Prime Minister Wang wants to reform it, and is already doing so, but it has only created more problems. It's better not to reform it at all!"

"Military officers who falsely report, conceal, or fraudulently claim funds cannot be easily investigated and punished, otherwise it could very well lead to a mutiny in the capital. Want to touch this..."

"One must train a sufficient number of elite troops in the capital, led by a loyal and selfless general. His subordinates and soldiers must also be loyal and obedient, ready to suppress any mutiny at any time."

"There's also the 'sitting-in-the-granary' method promoted by Prime Minister Wang. This would be the most effective, and we could just abolish it, but it would offend Prime Minister Wang and the reformists."

The embezzlement of warehouse rations is a systemic problem; a thorough investigation into embezzlement by military officers is necessary for selecting and training generals and preventing mutinies. Xu Lai listened carefully to this explanation and realized that Wang Anshi was still the easiest to deal with.

Of course, you should pick the softest persimmon!

Compared to those long-standing problems, Wang Anshi, who wielded immense power in the court, was indeed an easy target.

The "grain storage method" promoted by Wang Anshi, like the Green Sprouts Law, emphasized voluntariness. That is, soldiers who received more grain than they could eat could voluntarily sell it to the government for money.

When a policy emphasizes "voluntariness" and is vigorously promoted from top to bottom, it becomes impossible for it to be truly voluntary from the moment the decree is issued.

Upon returning home that evening, Xu Lai wrote a memorial to the throne.

The next day, when he went to work at the Privy Council, he did not follow the internal procedures but instead handed the memorial to the Yintai Tongjin Division.

Although the Yintai Tongjinsi was a subordinate agency of the Privy Council, this department could bypass the Privy Councilor Wen Yanbo and directly present officials' memorials to the emperor.

When Xu Lai again petitioned to abolish the new laws, Zhao Xu had no choice but to summon Xu Lai to debate with Wang Anshi face to face.

Wang Anshi explained: "The 'sitting granary' system is for the convenience of both the public and private sectors. In particular, it is for soldiers who are transferred to other places and whose families are not with them. They receive too much military rations and have nowhere to put them. At this time, the surplus grain is sold to the government, which buys it on the spot and puts it back into the warehouse."

This solved the problem of soldiers storing food, and also allowed the government granaries to have more food reserves.

Wang Anshi added, "Soldiers may also choose not to sell grain. It is entirely voluntary."

Xu Lai questioned, "The Green Sprouts Law also states that it's voluntary, but which prefecture or county is truly voluntary now?"

"All of this was voluntary," Wang Anshi said. "I have already issued a strict order to investigate and punish the officials who forcibly imposed the Green Sprouts Tax!"

Xu Lai asked, "Who was investigated? What's their name?"

Wang Anshi said, "After the decree was issued, no official dared to forcibly impose the quota, so no specific person was investigated or punished."

Xu Lai laughed in exasperation: "Why deceive yourself, Minister Wang?"

Wang Anshi said, "That is the truth."

Xu Lai, too lazy to dwell on the issue of "voluntariness," turned to the emperor and said, "Your Majesty, the soldiers in the capital can't even receive their full pay and rations; they have to find other ways to make a living and support their families. Where would they find surplus grain to sell to the government? Right now, all the soldiers have to sell their grain to the government at a low price and then use the money to buy more grain at higher prices from the grain shops. The soldiers are already full of complaints!"

Zhao Xu asked, "Do all the soldiers have to be sold?"

Xu Lai replied, "When rations were distributed based on vouchers, the granary officials deducted the money directly. They converted a portion of the grain that should have been given to the soldiers into copper coins at a low price and distributed them to the soldiers. How can the soldiers be expected to do this willingly?"

Wang Anshi said, "This was not my intention, and I have strictly forbidden it. The system of granary duty does not need to be abolished; simply replacing incompetent supervisors is sufficient. The Privy Council can also dispatch officials to supervise the distribution of grain and salaries at any time."

"Can the Privy Council send someone to supervise at any time?" Xu Lai asked.

Wang Anshi said, "Of course."

Xu Lai said to the emperor, "Your Majesty, I have no further questions."

Wang Anshi knew that Xu Lai was going to take this opportunity to cause trouble.

He was pleased to see this.

Xu Lai is just the right person to help him clean up those granary officials in the capital!

Upon returning to the Privy Council, Xu Lai immediately summoned Wang Cun: "Do you dare to personally go to the official granary and supervise the distribution of soldiers' rations and pay?"

"What is there to be afraid of?" Wang Cun said, head held high and chest puffed out.

Xu Lai said, "I'll lend you a few guards; please be sure to take care of yourself."

Wang Cun asked, "To what extent should this supervision go?"

"You can handle it as you see fit." Xu Lai wanted to see what Wang Cun was capable of.

If Wang Cun were merely upright and selfless, he could very well have escalated the situation. Afterwards, Xu Lai could only cover for him. Such a person can be given important responsibilities, but only in the right place; he is unlikely to take charge in crucial moments.

If Wang Cun handles things properly, knows when to advance and retreat, and acts in accordance with the times, then such a person can stand alone!