I, Liu Bian, Sanxing Han Dynasty

Chapter 38 National Revenue

After the candidates were decided, how many garrison troops to leave became a focus of debate.

On this issue, Taiwei Cui Lie and Sikong Cao Song, one in charge of soldiers and the other in charge of money, exchanged passionate blows with their respective subordinates.

Although Taiwei Cui Lie proposed to give up Liangzhou, after changing from Situ in charge of people's livelihood to Taiwei in charge of military affairs, he immediately became familiar with the work of Taiwei and loved what he did.

He shouted directly: "Make 10,000 soldiers and divide them into half with infantry and cavalry."

In addition to its own administrative system, the Taiwei Mansion also has jurisdiction over Taichang Qing, Guanglu Qing, and Wei Weiqing.

Weiwei Yang Biao sincerely believed that Liangzhou could not make any mistakes, and strongly agreed. Yang Biao was a descendant of Yang Zhen, and he was also very talented and famous. His voice should not be underestimated.

Cui Lie's Guanglu Xunding Palace, who should have also supported Cui Lie, became Jiuqing by being friendly with the eunuchs. The eunuchs didn't care about Liangzhou.

Hearing Cui Lie's call for 10,000 soldiers, Cao Song immediately became angry: "If the Taiwei can pay this military expenditure, of course I have no objection."

Although he is a little afraid of Yang Biao, he is not afraid of Cui Lie. Who hasn't bought his official position? I spent twenty times as much as you!

Yang Biao was full of aggression: "Coordinating military expenditures is Sikong's responsibility. If Cao Sikong can't do it, he might as well abdicate and make way for someone more worthy!"

Cao Song was immediately frightened.

But there are also Zong Zhengqing, Da Sinong Qing and Shaofu Qing under Sikong Mansion.

Yuan Pang, the great minister in charge of national finance and taxation, stood up. He had always kept himself clean and did not participate in the disputes between scholars and eunuchs. He would not be intimidated by Yang Biao if he was upright. He retorted: "Since the early years of Zhongping, the world's taxation has Cut in half, last year we only had 3.4 billion yuan, which was too much to make ends meet.

In the past, with an annual income of 6 billion yuan, Liangzhou Duanjiu successively pacified the Western Qiang and the Eastern Qiang in ten years. It cost 4.4 billion yuan to quell the Qiang rebellion. It was still necessary to reduce the rent of the ministers and princes below the public minister by half, and to occupy and sell the Guannai Hou and Huben. Wait to make up for it. "

When Emperor Huan confiscated the property of General Liang Ji, he obtained 3 billion yuan after auctioning and discounting it, so the world's taxes and rents were halved that year.

The war against the Qiang mentioned by Yuan Pang generally happened when Emperor Huan was in power. When the money was not enough, Emperor Huan reduced the salaries of officials, borrowed land rent from princes, and sold officials and titles.

From the perspective of reducing taxes and selling officials, Emperor Huan is actually much better than Emperor Ling. Emperor Ling would definitely not be willing to use the three billion to reduce taxes for the world, and Emperor Ling's original purpose of selling officials was really just to enjoy.

Yuan Pang continued: "To ride 10,000 steps, it will cost at least 100 million yuan per year. It will definitely happen if it exceeds 10 to 20 million yuan. I will integrate the accounts and I can spend at most 50 million yuan."

Cao Song was a great farmer before he became a Situ. How could he not know that this year's total national income will never be more than last year's 3.4 billion yuan. I know that even if it is 50 million yuan, it is very difficult to squeeze out.

He spoke on behalf of Yuan Pang: "It is difficult to make food without rice. The land rent owed to the princes has not yet been repaid. The rewards of the Southern Xiongnu and Wu Huanyi from accompanying the army have also been cut off for several years. It is either unwilling or impossible."

No matter how much money Cao Song could make, he couldn't afford to spend 100 million.

Cui Lie didn't say anything more and raised his hand to Cao Song. The fifty million dollars had already satisfied his psychological expectations.

Yang Biao had nothing to say. In his opinion, as long as he could ensure that Liangzhou was not lost and the rebels did not affect the third assistant. No money means no money, unless Emperor Ling pays Xiyuan money again.

The national income of 3.4 billion yuan seems to be a lot, but there are more places to spend money. First of all, the salary of the 130,000 to 40,000 officials and sex workers in the country alone will cost 2.3 to 400 million yuan. This is because Emperor Huan continued to The salary was reduced twice, otherwise it would have cost more than 100 million yuan.

At first glance, it seems that there is still one billion yuan left, but there is more than just Liangzhou in the world, and the court also needs to provide more than one army for the Hanyang garrison.

The defense force of Luoyang City includes the fifth battalion of the Northern Army, which is about to return to its official form, as well as the Eight Pass Duwei Division guarding Kyoto outside Luoyang. In addition to the county soldiers, there are also specially established border defense troops such as Duliao Camp and Yuyang Camp on the border. It also requires money from the state.

In addition, rewards for meritorious service should not be forgotten. In addition to salaries and military expenses, the royal palace's expenses also had to go through the Shaofu and go to the treasury.

It turns out that the annual revenue of 6 billion is not enough to support a ten-year war, not to mention that the annual revenue has been cut in half.

The Shaofu Fan Ling, like Ding Gong, had good relations with eunuchs. He also wanted to take advantage of the situation to increase his presence, and paid homage to Emperor Ling: "Your Majesty, the 50 million yuan that Da Sinong took out was the money originally used to repair the palace."

Fan Ling didn't say anything in return. This opening immediately attracted the firepower of the courtiers to Emperor Ling and himself.

Yang Biao said angrily: "Isn't repairing the country inferior to repairing the palace?"

There are even more radical ones, such as the imperial censor Zheng Tai, who paid homage and said: "I ask your majesty to follow the old example of the late emperor and use the money from selling his official position to replenish military funds!"

When Liu Bian heard this, he knew he was in trouble.

Emperor Ling followed Empress Dowager Dong and loved money as much as his life. If he worked with him slowly or made him feel a sense of crisis, he might be able to regain Liangzhou's money, but Zheng Tai's behavior would only be counterproductive!

Just before Emperor Ling became angry, Lu Zhi came to pay homage and said, "I have a letter from Fu Xie, the prefect of Hanyang, which may solve the problem of money and food."

Fu Xie is from Liangzhou. When Cui Lie proposed giving up Liangzhou, was it just him? Of course it's impossible, the finances at that time were already what they are now.

But Fu Xie not only scolded the three princes at court, but also persuaded Emperor Ling to keep Liangzhou, and at the same time broke the "three mutual laws" for him not to return to his hometown to serve as an official.

His previous memorial also showed that he was a far-sighted man. Emperor Ling calmed down his anger slightly and motioned to Lu Zhi to read the memorial.

Liu Bian suddenly realized at this moment that from the beginning of the court meeting to now, there seemed to be no Liangzhou native among the officials who had spoken.

According to Liu Bian's understanding, the content of Fu Xie's memorial is not complicated.

Twenty years ago Duan Jiong pacified the Western Qiang.

Has it been settled? Ruping!

Duan Jiong's killings indeed brought about peace for sixteen or seventeen years, but the rebellion that started more than two years ago announced that the Qiang rebellion had entered a new stage.

That is, the Qiang people merged with the local powerful people in Liangzhou.

The most typical example is that Han Sui and Bian Zhang were "coerced" into being the leaders of a group.

Fu Xie also mentioned Huangfu Gui, who was one of the Three Ming Dynasties in Liangzhou. He was Huangfu Song's uncle.

Unlike Duan Jiong who advocated killing, Huangfu Gui advocated embracing softness and hoped to bring the Qiang people into the rule of the Han Dynasty through the Qingming official administration.

In the first year after he arrived in Liangzhou, the rebellious Qiang people heard that the man who petitioned for their grievances twenty or thirty years ago was coming. Within two or three months, more than 100,000 people surrendered.

After that, these surrendered Qiang people were recruited to suppress the rebellion. The roads were cut off and there was a plague in the army. The mortality rate of the Qiang army reached a full 40%. However, under the leadership of Huangfu Gui, the army did not break up and mutiny.

But when Huangfu Gui began to rectify the officialdom and remove officials who exploited the Qiang people, he was attacked by the central government - "nurturing the bandits to respect themselves, buying off the rebellious Qiang people and pretending to surrender."

(End of this chapter)