Han Shizu

Chapter 1573 Contradictions Everywhere
"Father, let's not stop here!" Probably thinking that Emperor Liu's statement of "moving a knife" was a bit serious, Liu Yang said: "The volunteers and bravery of the township soldiers were originally the assistance and supplement of the Han army, and now they are only strengthening the construction of the border fortress. To alleviate the increasingly high military expenditure of the frontier army, or to ensure the security of the frontier defense, kill two birds with one stone, and the military system of the Great Han has not changed!"

The Emperor Liu noticed Liu Yang's puzzled eyes, he was silent for a while, and said: "With this opening, how will it develop and change in the future? Will there be further reductions in the army due to financial problems in the future?
In my opinion, this is a hole in the Great Han's national defense and military embankment, a gap that may lead to drastic changes and even collapse of the Han military system.

After all, assistance is just assistance. No matter how brave and strong those local soldiers are, can they replace the imperial court in organizing regular soldiers?Can the courage of the countryside, which is half peasant and half soldier, be compared with a professional army?
The combination of soldiers and peasants is the military system of the government, without the land equalization system, even the old road of history will be unstable, inappropriate, really inappropriate."

Hearing Emperor Liu's words, Liu Yang frowned, and looked at him several times in a row. Liu Yang's expression was also a little depressed, and his puzzlement became more and more intense.

At this time, if Emperor Liu had to use one word to describe it, it would be stubbornness, and his sense of urgency was too strong. At present, the imperial court should change in terms of finance and military affairs. The emperor himself knew it all.

However, that kind of excessive worry about gains and losses is really puzzling, and those who convey it to others, especially those who are familiar with him like Liu Yang, feel that Emperor Liu seems to be particularly anxious.

Is Emperor Liu's rhetoric convincing?It's not too much, it's just a worry that Emperor Liu often lingers in his mind, it seems excessive and inexplicable, if he is not Emperor Liu, Liu Yang would have refuted it long ago.

When Liu Yang was thinking about how to break up the matter without angering Emperor Liu, Emperor Liu responded: "This matter is temporarily put on hold, and such a major matter cannot be solved by the three of us chatting in this booth." The final decision still needs to be discussed and discussed with the central ministers, and I need to think about it again."

Not long ago, in Qionglin Garden, also on the edge of this waterside pavilion, the father and son made a decision on the century-old plan for the development and consolidation of the Northeast. At that time, Emperor Liu was very firm and had no intention of discussing it with the ministers.

Obviously, the focus is still on that last sentence, which has to be considered again.

"Your Majesty, if you want to reduce the waste of military expenditure, besides military power, there is one more thing, which may be reduced!" Seeing that Emperor Liu still did not accept his proposal, and of course it was not completely rejected, Li Jilong hesitated for a while, but he still took the initiative to speak up.

"Say it!" Emperor Liu's attitude towards his son-in-law was still gentle.

Li Jilong: "Taking Shanyang Monan as an example, [-]% of the military supplies and supplies of the local frontier garrison soldiers come from Shanyang. Except for a few garrison farms, most of them are sent in the clouds. About [-]% are sent from Taiyuan, and the rest Some even have to be transported from Xijing to the border every year.

His Majesty also said that the annual supply to the frontier army and the transportation of food and grass by horses and horses will account for a large part of the overall consumption.Starting from the cloud to transfer military supplies to the fort along the border, the distance traveled can be as short as two hundred miles or as long as thousands of miles, and a lot of supplies have been lost.As for transshipment from the capital to border areas, the unnecessary loss in the process is even more serious.

As far as the border areas are concerned, the cost of military supplies is not only due to the long distance of the roads, but also due to poor traffic and insufficient manpower. During the busy farming season, the government recruits civilians to transport military supplies, and even needs to organize half-aged teenagers. Participate in transportation to maintain the supply of military supplies, and at the same time, it also allows each household to guarantee labor and not miss the farming season.

Therefore, I believe that if we can reduce the loss during the transfer of military supplies, we can also save a lot of military expenses.”

Hearing what he said, Emperor Liu still didn't make a statement. He watched Li Jilong ponder for a while, and then said: "It's not that the imperial court has thought of ways to increase the transport loss, whether it is to increase the power of vehicles, boats, or build roads. The conditions are realistic, but it is not as convenient and accessible as the Central Plains, and the big man is too big, and it is impossible to be as well-connected as the mainland, and the journey is smooth, and some transshipment losses are also necessary and unavoidable!"

Li Jilong: "In the past, the imperial court built righteous warehouses and official storages in various states to prepare for emergencies. The effect is remarkable. I think that several military warehouses can be built in key defense areas along the border to store grain, rice noodles, ordnance, Clothes and other military supplies, in this way, not only can we prepare for war, but we can also dispatch supplies closer on weekdays, so that it can be timely and convenient!"

Hearing his words, Emperor Liu shook his head and said, "After building these military supply warehouses, to fill them up, we still need to transfer supplies from other places. The loss of transshipment in this process is still inevitable. So , what is saved and convenient is only the supply of border military supplies, and other places are sent to the frontier."

Speaking of this, Emperor Liu suddenly paused, narrowed his eyes subconsciously, and looked at Li Jilong with a little playfulness: "Tyranny, you are not implying me to rectify the military supply system of the big man!"

Li Jilong was slightly stunned, and shook his head: "I don't have that intention, I just made this suggestion on the current transfer of military supplies in northern Xinjiang. If there are any omissions, please forgive me, Your Majesty!"

Hearing what Li Jilong said, Emperor Liu smiled lightly. He felt that this son-in-law meant that, so he said meaningfully: "You are a frontier general. You think about military affairs and military affairs. If you want to improve, it is within your duty. It can be criticized, but it is still very important to keep one's duty. It is not that the court cannot see some things and some problems, but the court has its own comprehensive considerations!"

From Emperor Liu's words, Li Jilong heard a little warning. Li Jilong tensed up, and hurriedly stood up and said: "Your Majesty's lesson is that the minister is talking too much!"

Emperor Liu shook his head, motioning him to sit down, and fell into meditation again.

Why did the imperial court make the logistics supply of the frontier army divided into divisions so complicated? The fundamental reason is that the logistics of the frontier army are firmly in the hands of the imperial court and also ensure the control of the army.

But it also caused a problem, that is, the large loss of supply. What Li Jilong said is correct. In this process, many losses are unnecessary and can be avoided, as long as a principle of dispatching to the nearest is adopted.

In the early years, before the great Han ruled the world and the country had not expanded to such a vast area, even dispatching military supplies from the capital was enough to support it, and it did not appear to be so wasteful.

But it is obviously different now. The loss and expenditure on transshipment, with the size of a big man, will be painful.Let’s talk about Yunnan and Annan in the southwest. If all the military supplies are transferred from the capital, it will be unrealistic at all.

The imperial court had already taken this into consideration. Coupled with two Northern Expeditions and several foreign expansions, it had already made major adjustments to the logistics supply, and stored and transferred materials in Daozhou, which is close to the border.

For example, the frontier army on the front line of Shanyang, up to now, has half of the materials allocated from Taiyuan, and actually directly supplied by Shanyang Road, only a small part.

But these changes, in essence, have not been fundamentally reversed, because many of the military supplies warehouses in Taiyuan are transferred from the two capitals.

In the final analysis, it has to fall back on the financial and taxation transfer system of the Dahan.In the early years, because of the separatism of the vassals and towns, in order to flatten the local hills and centralize power in the center, Emperor Liu used to make a big move against the local area, and the military power and financial power were the most ruthless.

From the very beginning, the annual taxes on retained money and grains were continuously reduced, from [-]% to [-]%, to [-]%, and finally all of them were simply handed over, and then the imperial court distributed them uniformly for overall planning and transfer.

I have to say that this is indeed an overkill problem. As a result, the imperial court has firmly controlled the financial power of the whole country and realized the control of the localities. produced.

Moreover, all the local reserves were handed over to the court, and it didn't last too long. It was abandoned in less than two years, and the court began to relax restrictions and loosen the rope.

Up to now, it has become a custom for local governments to retain [-]% of their annual finances and taxes for local construction, administrative operations, and daily expenses.This is still the court tax, which is fully transferred to the case of copper coins.

At the beginning, even grain, silk, and cloth had to be handed over in full. The waste generated at that time was staggering. Using the power of the whole country to support a city of Kaifeng was the status quo at that time.

But no matter how the financial and tax distribution system between the central and local governments changes, there has never been a fundamental change in the supply of military supplies. Even after 15 years of Kaibao, the Ministry of War is still leading the overall dispatch of military logistics across the country. According to the arrangement, there are a large amount of food and military equipment, and they are indeed sent from the two capitals.This is the most powerful and effective way for the imperial court to control the army, especially when the frontier army is large in scale.

Li Jilong's suggestion is not unreasonable, at least according to the principle of dispatching nearby, some seemingly tedious practices can be avoided.For example, military rations in Hebei do not need to be transported to the capital first, then sent from the capital to Taiyuan, and finally transferred to Shanyang, and then distributed to various armies and garrisons. Instead, they can be transported directly from Hebei to Taiyuan and then to Shanyang.In it, there is a lot of room for improvement.

As for the construction of military supplies warehouses in the border areas, first of all, there is a big question mark at Emperor Liu's place.Not to mention other things, when the frontier army can get food and ordnance nearby, if something happens one day and rebels, wouldn't it be more convenient, as long as those warehouses are broken, they can get the rebellion's military supplies
In view of this, Emperor Liu would rather thank the loss during the donation process than relax control.Taking the frontier army in Shanyang as an example, the two logistics bases of Yunzhong and Taiyuan are sufficient for supply and maintenance, and there is no need to build other military warehouses.

This night talk between father and son, Weng and son-in-law lasted for a long time, and it ended almost at midnight. Three pots of wine were drunk, five plates of appetizers were consumed, and the night view of the lake was enough.

From the vigorous development of tribal policies in the border areas, to the security issues in northern Xinjiang, to military strength, defense, and then to military supplies and logistics systems.

Suddenly, he found that there seemed to be problems everywhere in his Han Empire, as if adjustments and reforms were needed everywhere to cope with the development in the new era. This made Emperor Liu depressed, but at the same time he had to cheer up.

Conquering the world is difficult, and defending the world is even more difficult. Emperor Liu has a deeper feeling, and the more peaceful it is, the more careful he needs to be.After all, in times of peace, many dangers and contradictions are hidden under the level of peace and tranquility, which are too confusing and easy to let people relax their vigilance.

(End of this chapter)