Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 223 The Twelve Capitals of Divine Strategy

"Zheng Yushi, do you think those people who mint copper coins privately, if they know how to do this job, will be beheaded if they are discovered?"

In the signing room of Jinwu Guard, Fang Chongyong, who was reading the "Liu Dian of the Tang Dynasty" under the candlelight, asked casually.

Naturally, the yamen couldn't hear how those unlucky people who minted copper coins privately cried for their fathers and mothers.But Fang Chongyong could imagine that the scene tonight must be quite tragic.

He didn't want to witness it with his own eyes, and he didn't have the ability to stop it.

In the midst of strict top-down deployment, Fang Chongyong believed that the soldiers of the Jinwu Guard would carry out their orders thoroughly: only killing, not looting, not creating extraneous problems, and retreating after finishing their work.

At this time, even robbery and rape became a form of tolerance and kindness.In order not to let some of the Chang'an dignitaries who are related behind the scenes notice, in order to prevent them from reacting, this operation will be quite straightforward.

It will also be extremely cruel.

Fang Chongyong once imagined what would happen if he was born into a family of unscrupulous businessmen after traveling through time.

Tonight, he seemed to have the answer.

"The punishment is not as good as that of a great official, and the courtesy is not as good as that of a common man, that's all."

Zheng Shuqing sighed softly and found that Fang Chongyong didn't reply for a long time, so he added:
"I know that they didn't take the big head, but the people behind them did. But there is no firewood and charcoal around Chang'an, and everyone's life is difficult, so we can only abandon them to save more people.

I also know that after dealing with this group of people, new people will soon take over.However, even if someone can deal with the powerful people behind them, won't there be new powerful people to take over?

A person is lucky enough to have a few decades of peace in his lifetime, so how can he expect too much? "

"Yes, Yushi Zheng is just a censor. He has several supervisory censors, a few errand officials, and a few miscellaneous servants. How can they convince the people behind the private cast? What about giving up your own interests?”

Fang Chongyong nodded slightly and closed a certain volume of "Tang Liu Dian" in his hand.

Although this book clearly states what each official position in the imperial court does and what their powers and responsibilities are.But for some reason, he couldn't read a single word tonight.

"Yes, if you kill them, the business of making private money will stop for a while. More people in Chang'an will be able to buy firewood and charcoal, and there will be less bad money circulating in the market. Why not do this? Woolen cloth?"

Zheng Shuqing walked up to Fang Chongyong, spread his hands and asked.

Yes, from today on, these hands are stained with blood.

However, these hands are also empty. In the final analysis, Zheng Shuqing is just an ordinary bureaucrat. He doesn't have a single division in his hands.

Even as a time traveler, in his position, there is only so much he can do, what else can he do?

Fang Chongyong recalled that in the history of his previous life, Du Fu wrote the famous line "The wine and meat smell of wine and meat in the rich families, and the bones on the road are frozen to death", expressing his sympathy for the bottom class of society and his indignation at social injustice.

However, it seems that Du Fu did not tell future generations how to avoid this kind of thing, how to deal with it, and how to rescue it.

It's always easy to find the problem, but the hard part is how to deal with it.It is rare to find a person like Zheng Shuqing who can "stop the boiling water". He might face revenge from powerful people afterwards, let alone anything else?
So how can we "draw the fire under the cauldron"?

Fang Chongyong found that this problem was actually unsolvable. At least for now, he had not thought of any solution.As a member of the "ruling class", he cannot lower his quality of life to that of a tenant, and the reality does not allow it.

Fang Chongyong could not do such a thing as eating delicious food, hugging beautiful girls, working a good job, living in a mansion, and then speaking nonsense and pathetic words.

"Do you still remember when I took you to the saint's banquet and what I said to you afterwards?"

Zheng Shuqing suddenly mentioned an old incident from many years ago.

"Remember, Zheng Yushi said that dogs are stronger than ants."

Fang Chongyong nodded slightly and said.

"Isn't that what it is?
However, although dogs are stronger than ants, once there is any trouble, dogs are usually the first ones to be killed!
Dogs are stronger than ants but only to a limited extent.

Don't look at it. He seems to be very majestic tonight. He will be liquidated tomorrow and may have to ask you for help. "

Zheng Shuqing looked at Fang Chongyong and smiled bitterly.

Since he has become a charcoal envoy and is in charge of the distribution of charcoal in the Gyeonggi area, his hands and feet cannot be clean.

Either you are stained with copper or stained with blood; you are either corrupt or you offend others. It just depends on which side you are on. You need to be at least equal to both.Zheng Shuqing's family was extremely wealthy, and the Zheng family in Xingyang occupied the advantage of the canal. Naturally, there was no need for Zheng Shuqing to be greedy as he was making money every day.

In order to maintain power, it is inevitable for him to offend others.If you don't offend the powerful, you will definitely anger Brother Ji.

Zheng Shuqing's power was given to him by Brother Ji, and Brother Ji can naturally take it back, but he will still be unlucky when the time comes.He was unlucky. The local economic interests of the Xingyang Zheng family no longer had official support and protection, and it would only be a matter of time before they were devoured.

On the surface, what Zheng Shuqing did seemed to be willful. In fact, the path he wanted to take and the choices he could make were all decided.

"Actually... forget it."

Fang Chongyong originally wanted to tell Zheng Shuqing a cruel fact, but considering that Zheng Yushi was probably immersed in the emotions of "sacrifice himself for public service" and "serving the country and the people", he really couldn't bear to interrupt the other party's fantasy.

"Hmph, you must be trying to say that it's not good for you to do such a thing, right?"

Zheng Shuqing said with a cold snort.

"Uh, no."

Fang Chongyong was about to speak but stopped.

"what is that?"

"Many powerful people in Chang'an actually have a lot of good money hidden in their homes for emergencies.

Now Zheng Yushi has killed all the people who made bad money, which will inevitably lead to fewer coins circulating in the Chang'an market.If someone is one of those people, they will collect a large amount of good money before others react, making the money on the market even less, and at the same time secretly release the bad money in their hands.

Let the bad money become as useful as the good money before.

After the limelight passed, they continued to melt the good money and cast it into bad money, and continued to make trouble. In the end, Zheng Yushi's work was actually in vain.At most, killing the big charcoal-burning households can lower the price of charcoal, but it is absolutely impossible to crack down on private money casting.

I am sure that private money casting will become even more rampant next year. What is Zheng Yushi going to do next winter? "

Fang Chongyong asked slowly.

It is foreseeable that this wave of crackdowns on private casting will cause prices to fall in the short term.But the powerful people who have both good and bad money will secretly collect good money and release bad money to replace it, while using the bad money to purchase supplies to make up for their losses. They are twice as happy.

In this way, it can be generally ensured that there will be no major fluctuations in market prices, which will be difficult for ordinary people to detect.

Although inflation treats everyone equally, ordinary people's information channels and reaction speed are definitely much slower than those of the powerful.By the time they react, this wave of "regulation" has come to an end. More good money on the market has fallen into the pockets of the powerful, and the proportion of bad money will definitely be greater than before the crackdown on private money!
In other words, although market prices may still be the same, the market size has become smaller, and materials are more concentrated in the hands of the powerful and are not released for circulation in the market.

Although Zheng Shuqing cracked down on private coinage and reduced the circulation scale of copper coins on the market, he only made the market smaller and did not substantially reduce prices.In fact, in this process, most people will be unlucky because of the ups and downs.

Of course, smelting is a big charcoal-burning enterprise. To burn a furnace of copper coins, you will basically consume thirty to fifty parts of the same weight of firewood!Zheng Shuqing allowed the winter to be "quiet", and he could still reduce the price of firewood and charcoal to some extent.

But it doesn't stop there.

"Are you saying that killing so many people actually...doesn't do much good, other than drinking poison to quench thirst?"

Zheng Shuqing asked with a shocked look on his face. "Although I don't want to say this, but...it's true."

Fang Zhongyong nodded numbly and said.

His understanding in his previous life was that the market in the Tang Dynasty circulated copper coins from the Tang Dynasty.But when I got here, I discovered that even Nanchen's "akimbo money" could be circulated in Chang'an without any problem!

In his previous life, people who made counterfeit banknotes gradually had no future. That was because counterfeit banknotes circulating in the market were among those who would "die in the light of day".But the situation in the Tang Dynasty was different. Privately minted copper coins were also "real money" and could even replace the copper coins circulated by the Tang Dynasty government. As long as there were no government "Kaiyuan Tongbao" on the market, there would be no big problem.

This has led to the current chaos in the market.

Even if the rich and powerful do nothing, they can make a lot of money as long as they use their information advantage to move back and forth among the four things of "good money", "bad money", "silk" and "people's livelihood resources".

What's more, these people "go out of money", mint copper coins privately, and use their official power to buy and sell by force.

Zheng Shuqing's approach of "treating the symptoms but not the root cause" will only cause greater backlash afterwards, and nothing else.

"It turns out that I was just busy in vain."

Zheng Shuqing sat helplessly in front of the desk and let out a long sigh.

"You can't say that your work was in vain. At least, Zheng Yushi's position is probably saved, and the price of charcoal will also drop a little. How can it be that you have worked in vain?"

Fang Chongyong couldn't help but tease.

"Ok."

Zheng Shuqing was so shocked by him that he felt depressed and didn't want to talk anymore.

He thought he could get full marks this time, but in the end he just barely passed.Anyone who receives such a blow will be unable to bear it.

……

That night, many people died in Chang'an, many of whom seemed innocent on the surface.

Fang Chongyong thought this was just the beginning, but what he didn't expect was that the rounds of liquidation lasted for ten days!Every night, many people in Chang'an can hear loud cries coming from a certain household in a certain neighborhood.

Later, according to Jinwuwei's own statistics, more than 2000 people were killed within ten days, and even more were imprisoned, exiled, and demoted as slaves.

Probably after listening to Fang Chongyong's words, Zheng Shuqing believed that if he cracked down more on illegal trading, the ability of the powerful to get things done would be reduced, so he was particularly ruthless.Many people who had only made casting tools and purchased copper materials, but had not yet started privately casting copper coins, were also in bad luck.

After some operations, the nickname "Zheng Gouguan" has become Lao Huangli.Now, people in Chang'an have given Zheng Shuqing a new nickname: Zheng King of Hell.

The effect of the crackdown on illegal casting is obvious. The price of charcoal has dropped at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Following Fang Chongyong's suggestion, Zheng Shuqing ordered the establishment of a "charcoal warehouse" on the outskirts of the capital to collect charcoal at a fair price. This, to a certain extent, inhibited the behavior of the powerful from collecting charcoal at a low price and then hoarding it and reselling it.

However, that's all. The price of firewood in Chang'an City plummeted, but the price of charcoal only fell slightly. Ordinary officials still couldn't afford charcoal, and more and more woodcutters joined the ranks of burning charcoal. The "charcoal seller" has become a "charcoal seller" and has become an in-demand occupation in Chang'an this winter.

It seems like everything has changed, and yet it seems like nothing has changed.

It was the severe winter of March [-]th. General Longwu Jun was virtuous and presented a "military reform" plan to Emperor Li Longji of the Tang Dynasty.

This military reform was mainly aimed at the Bei Ya forbidden army, but Fang Youde did not mention a word about the Nan Ya armies.

After reading the military reform plan, Brother Ji had no comments at all, at least he didn't mention it to foreign ministers.However, he handed over the task of "organizing and training the new army" to Fang Youde. In fact, he agreed with this "military reform plan", at least part of it.

In the winter of the fifth year of Tianbao, Emperor Li Longji of the Tang Dynasty ordered the establishment of a large camp on the outskirts of Chang'an to train the new Forbidden Army. General Longwu Jun Jun Youde took charge of recruiting personnel and training sergeants.

The designation of the new Imperial Army is:

Divine strategy army!
This new army plans to recruit 3 people and 500 armies.It is divided into left and right wings, with six armies in each wing, each with [-] men.

The biggest change on the surface is that the original "decimal system" of the Tang Army's basic units has been changed to the "five-digit system" of basic units, and soldiers are no longer randomly arranged when performing tasks as before.

The smallest unit is a team of five.Once formed, as long as the team members are not killed or retired, they will no longer be broken up and reorganized.Every time they march and fight, they are mobilized in "teams". They can be combined at will within an army and are not limited to their sequence.

Fang Youde also advised Li Longji: The combat unit of this army is an "army", which is easily confused with the "army" of the existing border army. The two have nothing in common in nature and scale.

Therefore, it is recommended to change "military" to "du".

The specific establishment is: the leader of the Shence Army will be a general, and his subordinates will be divided into left and right wings, with 5000 people in each wing, and one general;
Each chamber has six "capital" jurisdictions, each with 500 people and a commander;
Each "du" has ten battalions under its jurisdiction, each battalion has 250 people and a camp leader;
Each battalion has five fires, each with 50 people and a fire chief.

There are ten teams in one fire, five people in each team, and one team leader.

Each team moves together daily and does not separate. Each team uses the same stove for meals. Each battalion lives together whether it is marching, camping or guarding. Each "du" shares a roster, and collective rewards are distributed together.

This also means that as long as a soldier is assigned to a certain team, as long as he does not die, he and other soldiers in the same team are basically brothers in life and death.However, the feelings between soldiers in different teams are likely to be very indifferent.

Judging from the number of soldiers, the Shence Army and the Longwu Army are about the same, and they seem to be preparing to replace the Longwu Army.

But looking at the establishment alone, there seems to be a trend of "refinement".

Reducing the establishment of "battalion"-level units by half will better meet the needs of Suwei Chang'an.Moreover, there is no longer a distinction between "marching organization" and "combat organization", and the rights and responsibilities are clearer.

Moreover, Fang Youde also downplayed the power of the left and right "chambers", retaining only their administrative and management rights, and depriving the generals of the Shence Army of the right to mobilize troops.

In other words, the generals of the Shence Army who usually manage the left and right wings cannot mobilize the soldiers and horses of the six "capitals" under their control even if they want to make a coup.

Each "city" has a commander, and the power of the commander is higher than that of previous officers of the same level.It's just that although they have great weight, they can't accomplish anything big because of the lack of troops under their command.

……

"Why does it look more and more like Saint Seiya and the Golden Zodiac?"

In his study, Fang Chongyong murmured to himself as he read and read the "Military Reform Plan" written by Fang Youde.

"Just say it's okay."

Fang Youde asked with a straight face, ignoring the "weird" words Fang Chongyong said.

"It's okay, but even if the Shence Army is organized and trained, can we guarantee that they won't rebel?"

Fang Chongyong asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"At least, it is better than the Longwu Army. The organization of the Longwu Army naturally has problems. The generals of the left and right armies have too much power."

Fang Youde said in a deep voice.

"Okay, as long as you're happy."

Fang Chongyong waved his hand and said, "I'm going to fight Wu Duo. You can take your time."

　This chapter makes up for yesterday’s chapter, and there is another chapter for today

　　
　
(End of this chapter)