Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 1600 Cabinet Meeting
Jay Hanni hurried to the palace to preside over the meeting.

In fact, Shao Shude had a high opinion of them, thinking that Bukhara would figure out what happened within half a month, and then hold a meeting to make a resolution.But in fact, in mid-August, after the Xia army entered the Hewai area in three ways, it took about seven or eight days for Bukhara to figure out what happened.

What followed was a lengthy court debate, and it was not until early September that the decision to send troops to expel the nomadic invasion was made.

On the sixth day of September, the envoys of Bukhara broke through layers of interception and passed the news to the cities, ordering them to fortify the walls and clear the fields, hold on to the city, and preserve their vitality as much as possible.

On the tenth day of September, some generals from other places came to Beijing, held a second meeting, and decided on the combat strategy, that is, which troops to gather in Bukhara, which ones to gather in Samarkand, what kind of army strategy to adopt, and so on.

Today is September [-]th, and the first batch of troops has already set out on the road. Jayhani summoned officials from various ministries in the palace to discuss the distribution of supplies.

In the Persian system, the central government is divided into two parts: the palace and the cabinet.The palace can only manage royal affairs. After the reform of the previous emir, it also began to intervene in administrative affairs, but overall, the cabinet is mainly in charge.

The highest position in the cabinet is Grand Vizier (Vazir), which is equivalent to the prime minister and the deputy of the emir. He is in charge of the national government affairs. He can remove, appoint and dismiss officials by himself, and can command the army.

There are ten departments under the cabinet, in charge of various aspects.When Jayhani had a meeting today, all the heads of ministries came, and they were even more diligent than the emir summoned.

"Is Hajib here?" Jayhani asked with a glance when he entered.

Hajib is not a personal name, but an official name.If it is translated by Chinese name, it can probably be translated as "the chief attendant".

The Chief of Chamberlain mainly manages the court guards and slave schools.

Because of the aristocratic politics, the affairs of the country, including the army, are in the hands of the nobles. In order to hedge against the influence of the nobles, the king formed the palace guards.

The main source of the Guards was slaves.

Some were bought from human traffickers, and some were captured in war. Generally, young and strong boys were selected and trained in slave schools for seven years. Guards, directly under the royal family.

The king trusted the guards very much, because they were sharp knives against the power of the nobility.Officers of the Guards who have made great contributions can even be sent out to serve as officials.

To put it bluntly, the king wanted to centralize power, but the nobles didn't want to hand over power, so there was tension.As a symbol of centralization, the power of the Guards and Gulam is growing. People of insight worry that the centralization of power will be centralized in the future, but the Guards are no longer controllable. It is likely that the monarch will be abolished and the country into turmoil.

To some extent, the group of guards is somewhat similar to the group of middle officials in the former Tang Dynasty.

With the Zhongguan in control of the Shence Army, it is easy to abolish and establish the emperor.

The officers of the Guards can also abolish the emperor and control the government if they control the court Gulam.

Today, the head of the attendant did not come, which made Jayhani a little displeased. He wondered in his heart, did he get the little Emir's instruction, and he was dissatisfied with his monopoly?
If this is the case, it is absolutely nonsense!
I deal with official business all day long, I almost don't even have time to sleep, I struggle to maintain the overall situation, and I haven't been greedy for a penny of money, what else are you dissatisfied with?What are you afraid of in the end?
"Don't wait for him." Jayhani sat down at the head of the long table with a gloomy face, and said, "Mustafi will report first."

"Mustaufi" is not a name, but a position, which can be understood as "Minister of Finance".

"Grand Vizier." Mustafi is an old man, but his voice is still loud, and he said: "The planned additional military expenditure of 830 million dirhams has been allocated and delivered to Muslev yesterday. "

Mashrif is also a job name, and it is difficult to find a corresponding Chinese name.

If Mustafi is in charge of the treasury, then Muslev is responsible for tax collection and spending.

The money collected by Muslev was handed over to the Mustafi treasury for safekeeping.

When a certain place or a certain thing needs money, the corresponding officials report to the Grand Vizier for approval, and then the Mustafi treasury transfers the money to Muslev, who finally uses the money for the required use. place to go.

The Samanid dynasty has developed very well over the years.

During the period of the first emperor, the annual income fluctuated around 5000 million dirhan silver coins, while the average annual expenditure was 4500 million, and the financial situation was relatively good-in the absence of large-scale wars.

Of the 4500 million expenditure, 2000 million was used to pay military salaries and officials' salaries.

This time, the military expenditure of 830 million Dirham was added in one breath, which is quite large.And this also means that this year's treasury cannot cover expenditures, so it can only use savings-in fact, last year it could not cover expenditures, after all, it is a troubled time.

The additional military spending is mainly used in three directions:
First, call for fanatical jihadists from all over the world and even countries to come to help.

Although people come to help you fight for simple religious reasons, they still have to pay rewards.

If you die or get injured in battle, you will also be paid compensation.

Some people are not equipped or even have no equipment, but some are full of martyrdom. Do you want to arm them?
During the march and war, there are also expenses such as food and medicine, and money is used everywhere.

The only advantage of foreign jihads is probably that they don’t need to shed blood from their own people, just pay for it.

Second, hire grassland tribal soldiers from home and abroad to fight for the imperial court.

Third, assemble the private soldiers of the nobles, including private Gulam, regular army and even serf soldiers. There is no need to pay employment fees, but there are still a lot of expenses. After all, the nobles are fighting for your emir, so you can’t let them go out and pay Paying money—it’s like the Chang’an court asking Jiedu envoys to send troops to quell the rebellion. After Jiedu envoys sent troops, the court had to take over the expenses, and because it was going abroad to fight, it had to give more money.

Fourth, recruit more troops.

Because of frequent wars, there are a large number of homeowners, serfs, and bankrupt handicraftsmen who have been on the battlefield in Persia.In the past, they were recruited when there was something to do, went out to fight, and dismissed when there was nothing to do, so as to save money. This time, a group of people will be mobilized.

And one last point: the Royal Guards are going to march.They are professional warriors, but stationed and going out are two states, and their expenses are completely different. This part of the surge in expenses must be included.

"Grand Vizier, the officials have already dispersed to handle errands, and none of them dare not do their best." Seeing Jayhani's gaze turned, Muslev immediately said, "I wonder if there are any other orders?"

"As soon as possible." Jayhani only said one word, then looked at the other person and said, "Shahib Baled, tell me what you know."

Shahib Barid (Shib barid) can be translated as the post minister, in charge of the government's official document transmission and order issuance.

They have branches in various cities, and the personnel of their branches are not under the jurisdiction of the local government, but directly obey the minister of the cabinet, namely Shahib Balard.

In addition to being engaged in postal services, they also need to collect intelligence, external intelligence must be collected, and internal intelligence must also be collected, especially the intelligence of officials and nobles.What's more, this part is the key point. After the collection is completed, it will be reported to the minister through a secret channel, and the minister will submit it to the prime minister.

"We managed to capture some enemies, and after interrogation, we learned that the commander of the army was the Supreme Emperor from the East. He lives in the palace of Luoyang, which is a city surrounded by water, green trees and gardens. There are One day, he found that the floor tiles of the palace had not been laid, and the Uyghurs told him that Bukhara had countless gold dinars..."

"Are you telling a story?" Jayhani asked.

Shahib Balard looked at the expressionless face, subconsciously shuddered, and immediately said: "Grand Vizier, the Supreme Emperor has conquered more than a dozen towns in the province of Bahana, and the whereabouts of the governor are unknown. They are currently gathering It is proclaimed to attack westward, which is likely to be true, because Siba Khan is the essence of this province."

"How many are they?"

"1 to [-] guards, [-] nobles, and more than [-] mercenaries."

"So many guards? Do you dare to swear?" Jayhani asked.

Others also looked at Shahib Balard, some in disbelief.

"Dear Grand Vizier—" Ahmed Mulk interjected: "Perhaps the system of Eastern countries is different from ours. Shahib Balard has misunderstood. We still need to collect more information before we can be judged."

Amid Al-mulk (Amid Al-mulk) The job scope of this position is: drafting important documents of the country and being responsible for foreign affairs.

Jayhani nodded, agreeing with the Foreign Minister's statement.

If there are so many guards, this battle will be more troublesome.In the past, you could count on the enemy's logistics to be unsustainable, but now they have adopted a nomadic method of warfare, which is not very easy to deal with.Fortunately, the weather is coming to winter, which is great news.

Jaihani is not entirely convinced by Shahib Balard's claims.

He didn't think that the emperor in the east would let go of the rich and vast country, risking the danger of being cut off, and continue westward. Was there something wrong with his brain?

But what if it's true?That was a great honor.

Therefore, he had already ordered the governor of the South Omu Darya Province to recruit Turkic mercenaries locally and gather in Sabat and Samarkand. Finally - let the weather punish them.

Every day of delay, the more anxious the enemy will be, the lower the morale will be, and it will be hard to say how much combat power they will be able to exert at that time.

"What's the situation on the northern front?" he asked again.

"Respected Grand Vizier, the enemy on the northern front may already be retreating." Shahib Baled said: "We have confirmed from multiple directions that the enemy has lost the desire to continue going south after they have plundered enough. The weather It’s not allowed, it’s too cold, the pastures won’t grow anymore, no fool will continue to go south. The local nobles heroically kept most of the towns, and even started chasing the enemy…”

"Did they complain about anything?" Jayhani asked bluntly, interrupting his chatter.

If the country is the most important, except for the capital Bukhara, there are only two provinces.One is South Amu Darya Province, and the other is Khorasan Province, which is the region with the most dense population, the largest wealth contribution and the widest source of troops in Persia.

The governors of these two provinces have always been relatives of the Emir or slave officers he trusted.

As for the north, of course it is also very important, but most of them are newly conquered pagan areas, and the oasis agriculture is not as developed as the south. The importance and unimportance have always been contrasted.

The existence of these areas, to put it bluntly, is to act as a barrier for the capital Bukhara.

During the reign of the founding emir, in order to ensure the safety of Bukhara, the Great Wall was built in the north.

This is a very heavy labor, and the people suffer unspeakably.

During the reign of the second monarch, Ismail, he led his army to defeat the Uighurs, captured Talas, and once occupied Balasagun, which greatly dealt a blow to the arrogance of the nomadic forces.

He expanded the border to the north by hundreds of Falsah, brought countless alien races under his rule, and carried out Persianization step by step.

He also immigrated vigorously northward, turning oasis and river valleys that no prairie herdsman would manage into thriving towns, farms, and orchards.

He was a great man who once announced that the common people would be exempted from labor labor to build the Great Wall and let it be destroyed.

"When I am alive, I am the city wall of Bukhara." These are the most deafening words of Ismail when he was in power.

It has been eight years since he died, and he did not expect the grassland forces to expand again.

They were like Persia's persistent disease, a lingering nightmare that never really went away.

Perhaps, the Great Wall is about to start repairing again.

"The Dihkans have asked the guards to go north." Seeing Jayhani's question, Shahib Baled immediately replied.

Jayhani didn't answer immediately.

In fact, in his heart, he had already rejected the proposal.

The main force can only be invested in the direction of pulling sweat.

Tens of thousands of the most elite palace guards, private Gorams cultivated by nobles, dynasty regular army, noble regular army, Turkic mercenaries, elite troops directly under the Creator, jihadists, and a larger number of conscripts, Those who can fight but can't fight, all put into sweating...

Using reasonable tactics, the possibility of winning is more than [-]%.

He didn't believe that these elite warriors who had fought for decades in the country and rolled out of the dead would have nothing to do with the enemy.

If the Eastern Emperor can be captured alive, all problems will be solved.

He knows exactly where the root of the problem is.

"At the latest by the end of this month, all the troops must be assembled. The month of Day (October) is when the enemy will die." Jayhani finally concluded, and then asked the officials of various ministries to speed up the process.

There is no need to consult the emir.He was only nine years old and knew nothing.

The group of people gathered around him, hum!If you want knowledge but no knowledge, if you want martial arts but no martial arts, all of them want to be released as officials, eager to make money.

If the country falls into the hands of such people, it may be over.

Jayhani came to his office hall, the furnishings were very simple, and there were not many servants.The innermost room is a bed, and I sleep here when I work all night.

After quietly looking at the map on the wall for a while, he returned to the table, crossed the governor of Khorasan Province, and wrote letters to the nobles and priests in major cities, urging them to send troops as soon as possible.

Afterwards, he asked Auqaf (I couldn't find the transliteration...the minister in charge of religious property) to be called.

He had a hunch that things might not be that simple.

It is likely that the Central Plains has fully expanded to the vicinity.With their nature, the possibility of continuing westward expansion is very high.

There is a precedent for this, just over 100 years ago.

In order to resist this wave, one must obtain the support of the entire Creator World, whether it is assistance in terms of personnel or money, it is very important.

Thinking of this verse, he picked up the paper again and wrote a letter to the Grand Priest of Baghdad.

(End of this chapter)