Chapter 20 Rich 1
Before that, I wrote to Liulao many times to ask for food and salary. Liu Jaozhi also said that there was nothing he could do. Military food can be allocated, but there is no way to start with military salaries.
This time he came to explain the military service in a long letter:
Although Liu Laozhi was ordered to lead the army, the military pay did not come from the court and needed to be raised by himself. In Jiangbei, Liulaozhi is a guard, and naturally he can raise money through taxation and agricultural taxes. However, when it comes to the south of the Yangtze River, Liu Laozhi's prestige is not enough to mobilize local officials. Coupled with years of war and famine, taxes and agricultural endowment are extremely meager. If the local supply is insufficient, or local officials deliberately control the gap, Liulao will face the problem of food shortage and salary.
Moreover, Huan Xuan in Jingzhou has been changing frequently recently. The army of Jiankang and Jingkou is also recruiting new soldiers, and the military salary and grain storage are not enough. It is impossible to ask for pay from the court, and you can only find a way to raise it by yourself.
At the end of the letter, Liu Laozhi mentioned that because I have made contributions to attacking Wujun and Huiji, and I want to ask for a title for me.
Reading this section of the letter, I couldn't help shaking my head and smiling bitterly. After knowing the experience of Guannei Hou Yu Qiujin and others, I think it doesn't matter whether this title or not. Today, this title is actually just an empty title that comforts parents and neighbors.
Judging from the letter, Liu Laozhi's situation is not much better than mine.
If you don't lead the army, you don't know the difficulties. Since the stationing, all the details in the army have been handed over to Yu Qiujin, and I seldom ask about them. Although he mentioned to me about the shortage of military pay, and the soldiers have hinted and made it clear many times, I thought it was a matter of the country and the court, and I didn't have to think too much about Liu prison. My priority is to lead the army to kill the enemy and keep the rules.
Now that this problem has spread over me, I have to find Yu Qiujin and several other military officials to discuss it.
Although Yu Qiujin is a general like me, he has been a military official for a long time, so he is very clear about the cause and effect.
He said to me, "Sima has been engaged in military service, and the details of military service are naturally not as clear as military officials. You just mentioned the emptiness of the treasury. This treasury only refers to the national treasury. The public treasury, also known as the external treasury; the emperor's personal silver treasury, also known as the internal treasury. In addition, the silver library is called the private library.
"After the national wealth is used, the rest is stored in the outer treasury for national enjoyment. In the case of insufficient finance and taxation, if the internal treasury is full, the external treasury will inevitably be empty. When the use of the outer treasury is tight, the emperor often allocates the money of the inner treasury to solve the urgent need. After a few years and other circumstances improve, it will be returned from the external treasury to the internal treasury in installments. This is normal.
However, the current situation is that both the internal and external libraries are very empty. Generally speaking, the annual fiscal and tax revenue supports the war in the east, and it is not so difficult. The present situation is... In fact, there are other reasons for the emptiness of this treasury."
"Oh? What exactly is the reason?"
Yu Qiujin replied, "I just said that there are private libraries in addition to the internal and external libraries. This private treasury refers to the wealth of princes, princes and officials. Part of this wealth comes from salaries, while others are exploited. Most of the national finances and taxes are put into private banks before they are handed over to the internal and external treasury. From the county and from the courtiers, it is a blessing to be able to have one-tenth or two layers of it.
"How serious is the stripping?" Although I know that there are not many honest officials in various places, after all, they are just greedy for thousands or tens of thousands of dollars. Compared with the huge national wealth, it is a diff of a bull. Now that I have heard from Yu Qiujin, I know that the situation is probably a feather.
A military official interrupted at this time: "It may not be good to say this, but it is true after all. Such exploitation actually has a lot to do with the above. As he spoke, he pointed up with his index finger.
"above? Which one on top? I guess they must be talking about Sima Daozi and Sima Yuanxian.
The military official did not say anything, but looked at Yu Qiujin.
Yu Qiujin coughed and explained, "What else can there be besides the emperor?" Although the private treasury refers to the layer of exploitation between local officials and court ministers, the most abundant private treasury is still the eastern and western provinces. Don't people often say that 'rich people are invincible'? It means that private wealth can be compared with the treasury. I'm afraid that the private treasury of the East and West is more than ten times that of the treasury.
"Ten times?!" This is unbelievable. I have heard that the specifications and establishment of Sima's father and son are comparable to the royal family, and they have already been banned. But after all, these two people are relatives of the emperor, and no one is embarrassed by them. But in any case, it is hard to imagine that the private treasury of these two governments can exceed ten times that of the national treasury.
I always thought the meaning of "rich invincible" was an exaggerated statement. Today, after listening to Yu Qiujin's explanation, I knew that the word had an exact measurement.
I said, "When it comes to 'rich people', the princes (Wang Kai) and Shi Gong (Shi Chong) who fought for wealth have also reached this level?"
Yu Qiujin shook his head and said with a smile, "Sima underestimates the two people in the East and West Mansion. At the beginning of the Jin Dynasty, one country had the wealth of Wei, Shu and Wu. It can be said that the country is rich and the soldiers are strong. However, because the country is rich, there is a trend of luxury. When Wang and Shi Er were rich, although their wealth was comparable to that of the royal family, they still did not reach the present level.
"At that time, both the treasury, the internal treasury and the private treasury were still full. The treasury is rich, so I don't care how much the private treasury is. However, at present, when the internal treasury and the national treasury are empty, the private treasury is so rich that it can't be used. This is really..."
Listening to Yu Qiujin, I don't want to struggle with this public and private library that we can't control. I said, "You have just made it clear. The court was not paid, and General Daojian was also trapped by money and food. At present, military discipline and military orders alone may be able to establish power in a short time, but it is not a long-term strategy. Since we went south from Wu County with General Daojian, many soldiers have fled from the battle. Can you cure them? In terms of emotion and reason, it should be their crimes against us.
"Sima Yan is heavy."
"That's true. Admittedly, like you, I also hope to rule the army like Zhou Yafu's Xiliu Camp. But who has ever heard of the lack of asalable in Xiliu Camp? I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to wait for Zhou Yafu to govern the army.
Everyone fell silent. I lowered my head and thought for a moment and said to the crowd, "General Daojian's letter said that now the country does not care about military personnel, and the generals need to raise their own funds. The army has no source of money and food. How to raise this salary?
Yu Qiujin replied, "How the army raises money is very subtle."
I said, "Hmm. Those details don't need to be mentioned for the time being. You just want to talk about what we should do now?
I have been in the army and Sima for some years, and I know a lot about the way for the army to threaten the place. As the main general, Sun Wu was okay in the end, but Liu Laozhi openly asked the local government to pay and contribute, otherwise he would find many reasons to delay the war, which would affect the local finances and taxes, and eventually had to be obedient. However, in recent months, this approach does not seem to work.
Yu Qiujin said: "Although the army and the locality have always been indistinguishable, the army cannot go too long. In the end, it was not something that the army and the local government could handle. In the end, they went to the court to complain.
I explored what Yu Qiujin said and said, "Since local officials control local financial power, the army has no right to intervene. Now the local officials in Wu and Huiji are actually under the command of General Daojian. In this way, it's better to ignore those local officials and take over the financial power. These two places are at the forefront of the war. If finance and taxation are not for war, what else can they do?
Yu Qiujin and others did not say anything. Originally, they thought that Liu Laozhi's practice of threatening places was too much, but they didn't expect that I would have more extreme ideas.
(Zi Guo: This chapter is boring.
Xiaohu: These people are thinking about solving a headache. Can it not be dull? The reason why I wrote so much is that I hope to make the era at that time * clear through such a thing. This novel is not only about a general leading troops to fight, but also about how he made great plans and created an era.
zi Guo: That's right. However, in such a boring atmosphere, won't you arrange for kuon to make a gag?
Xiaohu: The classmate is also very busy. I don't have time to tell jokes all day.
)