Great Han Empire

Chapter 999 Chapter [-]
December 26, Liyang.

Prime Minister Li Wei, Da Si Nong Tianyu, and Shang Shuling Tian Chou braved the heavy snow to rush to Liyang, and submitted a plan to change the system.

The facts are grim, the financial crisis of the imperial court has reached its limit, and the national policy must be changed.If the world is stable, the current wealth system can still be maintained, but the anti-insurgency war is still going on, and the time for the unification of the world cannot be estimated in the short term. If wars are fought like this every year, billions of dollars will be lost every year, or else In a few years, the imperial court will owe huge debts. At that time, the imperial court's wealth and lifeline are completely controlled by others. The emperor and the imperial court will soon lose their prestige, and their power will be hit and elbowed. It is obviously difficult to maintain the new policy. go down.In order to alleviate the financial crisis, the imperial court has already raised taxes this year, but it will not help. If the tax increase continues next year, the wind of forced expropriation will quickly sweep across the states and counties and intensify.The people are poor, and the days of turmoil and riots are not far away.

The eldest princess held her head in her hands, helpless.To unify the world and restore peace, we must fight wars; to rebuild the great man on the ruins, and make the country prosperous and strong again, we must strengthen the foundation of agriculture, and to realize all these first, we need money and wealth. It requires a steady stream of huge wealth.Insufficient wealth, we must find ways to increase income and reduce expenditure, we must modify national policies and rebuild the system.

"How did this happen? How did the imperial court's financial deficit increase so rapidly? How did we get here a few years ago? In the Central Plains War, we mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops and fought for several years. Didn't the imperial court survive?"

"Land, it is the land that helped the court through the most difficult period." Li Wei said, "When we were in northern Xinjiang, we also borrowed a lot of credit, but as long as we regained the states and counties, we could use the recovered land, Salt and iron mining and management rights and tax relief to repay debts. In addition, we have implemented a series of new systems in order to reduce court expenses. Pensions are also provided by the fields of military households, etc... These measures were indeed very effective at the beginning, but as the imperial court recovered more and more states and counties, the expenditure also increased sharply. For example, when we fought the Central Plains War, It is enough for the army to cross the Yellow River, and the front and back are only more than 1000 miles, but to attack the western Xinjiang, the army will have to travel more than 3000 miles, and the increase in military resource consumption is not a multiple, but a multiple of doubling. The same is true for other expenses.”

"As the imperial court's expenditure increases, credit loans will increase, and the princes, nobles, powerful families, and merchants own more and more land, because they have more and more rights to mine and operate salt and iron, and because of the military expedition and the reconstruction of the city. When the required materials and the amount of trafficking increase, the wealth they accumulate will become more and more amazing, and they will have more money to lend to the court on credit. What about the court's repayment ability? Temporarily lost, because The imperial court wants to attack the western border, the northern border, and the remote frontier land. There is no land that these people need, and there are few salt ponds and iron mountains, so the imperial court has a huge deficit, and with the extension of the expedition, As the scale and duration of the expedition increased, the deficit became more and more serious, so that it is now in a deep financial crisis."

"Success is land, defeat is land." Li Wei sighed, "Now the facts are here. If this situation is allowed to continue, princes, nobles, powerful families, and merchants and wealthy people will gradually control the wealth and lifeline of the imperial court. If they control the lifeline of their wealth, they can unscrupulously annex the land and unscrupulously force the court to increase taxes. What is the result? As in the past, the people were displaced, the refugees caused disasters, riots continued, and the country was crumbling. In the past, the Han Dynasty had 200 years It can still last for a while, and it can still allow us to retain a little vitality and rebuild the big man on the ruins, but what about now? After 20 years of war, the big man has struggled and survived, but he is very fragile, as long as there is a gust of wind A torrential rain can completely destroy it."

"This is the status quo. The new policy has been implemented for more than ten years. It has helped the court move towards ZTE, but at the same time, its drawbacks and contradictions have accumulated enough to endanger the country. The court must adjust the national policy in time to alleviate this crisis in the shortest possible time. , to minimize this harm, so as to ensure the sustainable development of ZTE’s great cause.”

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The eldest princess understands the difficult situation of the imperial court, and hopes that the emperor and her own plight can be improved, but the imperial court uses the method of suppressing business to increase income on the basis of emphasizing agriculture. The lessons in history are very profound, and she cannot be careless.Emperor Xiaowu succeeded in reforming the system back then, but killed many people and almost destroyed the merchants of the Han Dynasty, but Wang Mang failed, and the defeat was so complete that he was buried with the country.The reason why Wang Mang failed to usurp the country, in the final analysis, was that the restructuring seriously damaged the interests of the princes, nobles, bureaucrats and rich people at that time.Since you won't let us live, we will die together and die together. As a result, Wang Mang is finished and the country is overthrown.What about today?Today there is still an emperor and court in Xiangyang. This emperor even violated the ancestral system and enfeoffed princes wantonly. Comparing the two, who can give these people the greatest benefits?It is not difficult to imagine that the consequences of Chang'an's restructuring are likely to be a series of rebellions, and finally ZTE failed, and the big man was overthrown again.

The more the eldest princess thought about it, the more frightened she became, her whole body was cold and shuddered.

Before the general left Chang'an, he asked himself to transfer Yan Wuwei and Fengyun Iron Cavalry to Jinyang for defense. At that time, he felt that the general made a fuss over a molehill. Now it seems that it was not the general who was cautious, but himself who was blindly confident. crisis.The general has clearly seen the crisis of the imperial court. He has a premonition that the army's expedition to the western border will bring a turmoil to the imperial court. Expedition to the western border and stabilizing the northern border is the imperial court's counter-insurgency strategy. In order to realize this strategy and ensure the great cause of ZTE To be successful, this turmoil is necessary, but the center of this turmoil is oneself.The success of Li Wei's restructuring depends on his own support. As long as he agrees and the edict is promulgated and implemented, the conflict will be completely aroused.

There are two consequences triggered by this conflict. One is that the court kills all those who dare to confront the court; the other is that the traitors kill people who take away their wealth.I bear the brunt and become the person who the traitor wants to kill. Once the conflict gets out of control and the state and county are in chaos, the general must first keep the little emperor, followed by himself, and then keep the foundation of northern Xinjiang.The little emperor has always been in the army, and with the personal protection of the general, nothing will happen.After Yan Wuwei and Fengyun Tieqi arrived in Jinyang, they could not only protect themselves, but also guard the northern border.

The general is planning for the last rainy day, and he has no plans to spare.Is he really out of line?
Last year's Chang'an mutiny led to Prime Minister Cai Yong's resignation and Li Wei's ascension. A large number of warriors entered the court immediately. Where did these warriors mainly work?state county.Now the governor of Bingzhou is Zhang Baiqi, the governor of Youzhou is Fan Li, the governor of Jizhou is Yang Ming, the governor of Qingzhou is Zhang He, the governor of Yanzhou is Gao Lan, the governor of Liangzhou is Huangfu Li, the governor of Sili is Zhang Liao, and Yin of Henan is Xu Huang However, only the two ministers of Yuzhou governor, Wang Ze and Jingzhao Yin Yupeng, are not warriors, but they are both high officials in northern Xinjiang. country, then the states and counties will not be in chaos.

Although Zhong Yao, the great general who conquered the south, was in Yuzhou, the governor of Yuzhou was Wang Ze, and Lei Chong, the general who conquered bandits, had another [-] troops stationed in Xuchang. Even if Zhong Yao betrayed, it would be difficult to affect the overall situation. .

First, Li Wei served as the prime minister, and then there were warriors in the prefectures and counties. Fortune, is this all a coincidence?Looking back and thinking about it, this kind of coincidence is too amazing, right?
impossible.The general asked me to transfer Yan Wuwei and Fengyun Tieqi back to Jinyang. It was at the end of last year. All of this was arranged by the general. He pushed Li Wei to the position of prime minister and transferred the warriors to prefectures and counties , The purpose is to snatch wealth, to make the treasury full, and to lay a solid foundation for the little emperor to govern.

The emperor has no money, lives on credit, lives on the face of others, and lives on selling officials and nobles. How can there be any prestige at all?Where can we rejuvenate the country and stabilize the world?
For the sake of the big man, Big Brother Leopard really did his best and did everything he could.I should help him, with Brother Leopard's promise, even if I die, I am willing to do so.

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"If you want to do it, you have to do it, otherwise don't do it." The eldest princess looked at the three ministers who looked surprised, and said solemnly, "After the reform according to this policy, how much income can the imperial court increase in a year? Have you calculated it specifically?"

"At present, it is impossible to calculate specifically..." Li Wei said, "I and the general subordinates of the prime minister's mansion have roughly calculated the income of salt and iron. It can increase revenue by 20 billion to 30 billion dollars."

"There are so many?" The eldest princess couldn't believe it.

"Hmph..." Li Wei sneered, "Why is the Shaofu's income so low? Others robbed the money. After the Yantie official camp, the imperial court's income increased immediately, and even losing peace would be able to play a role. It can increase the income of about 30 million yuan." Li Wei continued, "If you add the penalty rent of land limitation and the increased commercial tax, the imperial court can increase its income by at least 40 billion to 100 billion yuan a year, so that the total income of the imperial court's wealth will be It can be increased to [-] billion dollars."

The eldest princess was very excited when she heard the words, "What is the specific plan?"

"Rebuild the "Salt and Iron Law", take back the mining rights, and rebuild the salt and iron officials, so that the imperial court can firmly control the price of salt and iron, and then severely hit the salt and iron merchants through the price, and take the money from the salt and iron merchants. Salt The price of iron falls, the price of corn rises, and the income of farmers increases."

"Revise the "Junshu Law" to ensure that the officials of the Dasinong have the goods of the counties and countries they need to enrich the treasury. The Dasinong wants to send a large number of Junshu officials to the counties and states, and the counties and countries should follow the regulations. The goods that are not needed by the capital are transported to Beijing, and the goods that the capital does not need are transferred from the place of production to other places for sale. Through repeated exchange, the goods needed by the capital are transported to Chang'an, and the troublesome transportation of state tributes from various counties, poor quality, and even shipping costs are eliminated as much as possible. Some unreasonable phenomena exceeding the value of the goods."

"Revise the "Ping Zhun Law", set up leveling officials in the capital, Luoyang, Handan, Jinyang, Jicheng and other places, accept the average shipment of goods, according to the fluctuation of market prices in various places, sell them if they are expensive, and buy them if they are cheap. It is used to adjust supply and demand and control the market."

"In this way, Da Si Nong controls the production of salt and iron and the trading of goods. It is difficult for merchants and rich people to make huge profits from it, and the prices of various commodities will not rise and fall, causing the people to be miserable. This policy will not only increase the income of the imperial court, but also the national treasury. Enrichment can also ensure the income of farmers to a certain extent, allowing them to live a life of food and clothing.”
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The eldest princess nodded again and again, and asked worriedly: "How difficult is this strategy if we want to pass it smoothly?"

Li Wei, Tian Yu, and Tian Chou looked at each other and smiled wryly.

"It shouldn't be too difficult." Li Wei hesitated for a moment, then said slowly, "In those days, Emperor Xiaowu fought for years, and the country was short of money, and used up all the treasury savings left over from the Wenjing period. The annexation became more and more serious, and the court's wealth was seriously insufficient. In order to increase income, Emperor Xiaowu issued an order to recruit people into slaves, sheep, money, and millet to worship officials or atone for sins. In the third year of hunting (120 BC), he broke the ban on merchants not being officials, appointed great salt merchants Dong Guo Xianyang and Daye Tiejia Kong to lead the salt and iron affairs for Dasinong Cheng, and appointed Luoyang great merchant Jia Sanghong. Yang presided over the restructuring for the Dasinong Zhongcheng, and successively implemented a series of new policies such as salt, iron, and wine official management, equal distribution, leveling, counting, suing, and unified coinage, which greatly eased the crisis. "

"Compared with Emperor Xiaowu's dynasty, the situation in the world today is a hundred times more serious. It cannot be done without reform. The bloody lessons of the Han Dynasty have gone through 400 years. I believe that the ministers in the court and the merchants and rich people from all over the place will not be so obsessed with money that they will lose their minds." At the point of reason, compared with life, money is just a fleeting cloud and is not important. The imperial court has tried its best to take into account the interests of all parties. If someone must put the country's safety at risk, then he is not polite. Follow the example of Emperor Xiaowu and resolutely suppress it with thunderous means."

The eldest princess looked stern, looked at the murderous Li Wei, and was silent for a long time, "Does it have to be killed? Can't we discuss it properly?"

"If Your Highness agrees, I plan to convene ministers, great scholars and some rich merchants in Weiyang Palace to discuss this matter in the next year." Li Wei said, "Didn't Your Highness invite a lot of people for the celebration? I invite Your Highness to change the celebration into a political discussion." , Asking people from all over the world to make suggestions for the great Han Zhongxing, this is also a grand event."

The eldest princess' eyes were full of doubt and worry.With so many ministers, great Confucian scholars, great merchants and rich men coming to the capital, once something happens, the consequences will be disastrous.

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"The official operation of salt and iron means that the imperial court has received part of the salt and iron profits that originally belonged to the rich merchants to the treasury. This has severely hit the rich merchants and helped the imperial court to curb the spread of land annexation. It also protects the interests of the farmers. Let them keep their place of survival. However, during the reign of Emperor Xiaowu, in order to increase income, the court set the price of salt and iron very high, even higher than the price set by rich merchants, which increased the burden on the people. There are many people who can’t afford salt, and farmers who can’t afford iron tools have to use wooden plows.” The eldest princess sighed and said helplessly, “Salt and iron official operations have both advantages and disadvantages, and using them well will benefit the stability of the country. If it is not used properly, it will cause hidden dangers of turmoil in the country. In the final analysis, the key is that the government should not be corrupted, so there have been many debates about this policy in this dynasty. There are supporters and opponents."

"In the sixth year of Emperor Xiaozhao's first Yuan Dynasty (81 BC), ministers such as the imperial historian Sang Hongyang and more than [-] great scholars and merchants from various states and counties debated governance issues. The great scholars and merchants asked the court to abolish the salt and iron, In order to show frugality, they put forward the laws of drinking wine and equal loss, and then put forward many proposals for domestic and foreign policies. Although some of their "rest and recuperation" policies were helpful to the stability of the country, the imperial court did not adopt their proposals to abolish salt and iron. In July of the sixth year of the First Yuan Dynasty, the imperial court issued an imperial edict to revoke the qianjiu (wine monopoly) and iron officials in the Guan, and the rest of the salt and iron policies remained the same and followed the old system."

"When Wang Mang was in chaos (the tenth year of AD), the law of five equals and six managements was implemented. (Officials sold salt, wine, and iron, collected production taxes from mountains and rivers, and officials minted copper coins. Five equals on credit were collectively called six managements.) It was changed back, but everyone knows the result.”

"After the death of Emperor Xiaozhang (A.D. [-]), Emperor Xiaohe ([-] years old) succeeded to the throne. Empress Dowager Dou came to the court as the ruler, and the general Dou Xian took power. Prohibition, let the people cook and cast', and the imperial court has been short of treasury since then."

"After the death of Emperor Xiaohe, Emperor Xiao'an (13 years old) succeeded to the throne (AD 125). Some experience, and use foreign relatives and eunuchs. At that time, there were wars in Western Xinjiang, internal rebellion, and Western Qiang invasion outside. The court urgently needed money and had to ban salt and iron. However, due to the opposition from the government and the opposition, the official camp was not fully realized in the end. In the first year of Yongjian (AD 19), [-] eunuchs, including Cao Teng and Sun Cheng, launched a coup in the palace, expelled the Empress Dowager Yan, and succeeded the emperor filially. , but then the great general Liang Yi assisted the government, and the dispute between salt and iron resumed."

"In my father's reign, the general persuaded my father to reopen Yantie in order to defend the northern border, and you were the one who presided over the matter at that time." The eldest princess pointed at Li Wei, shook her head and smiled bitterly, "Well, salt It has been sixteen or seventeen years since iron was reopened, and now the imperial court wants to ban salt and iron, and you are in charge of this matter, it is really unacceptable, if there is no dispute in the court, it will be strange."

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"Aren't you afraid that someone will kill you in a fit of anger?" the princess teased.

Li Wei couldn't help laughing, talking eloquently.

"The discussion of salt and iron has been held many times in this dynasty, but there has been no bloody conflict. I hope this time it can be resolved smoothly."

"In fact, the dispute between salt and iron is, in the final analysis, a dispute over governance strategies."

"In the discussion on salt and iron in the sixth year of Emperor Xiaozhao's first Yuan Dynasty, Sang Hongyang, the official censor, said, 'The benefits of salt and iron are for the needs of the people, and they are enough for military expenses. It is beneficial to the country and not harmful to the people.’ There are many benefits, but celebrities, merchants and others think that the salt and iron monopoly is harmful, and accuse Emperor Xiaowu of marching into the Xiongnu, which has brought a heavy burden to the people.”

"The views of the two parties are very clear. One advocates that the imperial court intervene in the cultivation of goods such as salt and iron, while the other advocates free development; Starting from the survival of ordinary people... These conflicts of views are not limited to this dynasty, and have existed since ancient times. If the court is not strong, it will be difficult to resist foreign enemies, but if the court is too strong, it will inevitably infringe on the interests of the people. It is really difficult to decide the pros and cons of governing the country. "

"The discussion of salt and iron is to solve this problem."

"Salt and iron are not monopolized, so the court's wealth cannot be guaranteed. This is a fact. This is the case in Emperor Xiaowu's reign, and it is even more so now. However, if the court takes too many benefits from the people, it will arouse public anger. Great Qin Li II died , The lesson is profound."

"After the discussion on salt and iron in Emperor Xiaozhao's dynasty, the court still continued to implement the policy of official management of salt and iron. It can be seen that the strategy of building a strong and powerful man still has the absolute upper hand."

"In the debate on salt and iron, among the arguments of the two sides, the court's argument was more pragmatic, while the great Confucian merchants' side put forward the theory of governing the country by virtue, criticizing the salt and iron official camp for violating the 'benevolent government' and 'kingly way' , thinking that the Yantie official camp is nothing more than "the power at that time, all the techniques, cannot be passed on for a long time, this is not the way of the king of the Ming Dynasty, so the people of the kingdom". This statement sounds exciting, and it is probably no problem to incite the people , but using it to convince us is too far away. The whole "Mencius" reads people's blood, but no monarch of a vassal state adopts the policy of governing the country suggested by Mencius, and this is the reason."

"Without a powerful dynasty, without the power to shake the world, how can the people survive? The people can't survive, so why talk about ideals and rituals? Only when the Han Dynasty is strong, the people are fed and clothed, and the society is stable, can we talk about it? Ideals, etiquette, otherwise it’s all nonsense.”

"Of course, I'm not saying that etiquette and morality are unimportant. This dynasty has always attached importance to enlightenment, governing the country with virtue, and educating the people with courtesy. Scholars have ideals and morality, and the benefits to the country are self-evident. However, in terms of state affairs For many things, it is difficult to simply distinguish and judge by right or wrong. For any decision, the imperial court needs to discuss repeatedly, analyze and judge the situation, carefully weigh the pros and cons, need to care about everything, and fight for every penny."

"The actions of people like us are often despised by those scholars who pretend to be noble. They often say that a gentleman does not talk about profit. They have won the support of the common people with their noble character and words and deeds, but I want to say something ugly. , without the backing of a powerful man, what is he noble? How noble is he? He can't even save his life, so what is nobler?"

"Perhaps when they entered the imperial court and came into contact with state affairs in person, they would understand the difficulty of governing the country, know the unspeakable difficulties, and realize that the 'tyrannical government' they criticized was nothing more than the imperial court's last choice. However, When the people see them entering the officialdom, and their words and deeds are different, most of them will think that they cannot resist the temptation of corruption in the officialdom, and they will join forces with corrupt officials."

"In fact, many of us want to seek benefits for the world, for the people, and for ourselves. These three purposes exist at the same time. Many people want to achieve a great cause, but the reality defeats their ideals, so many people often lose the interests of the world first. , to protect one's own interests regardless of everything. The battle between salt and iron is like this."

"The later words of those great Confucian merchants fully proved this point. What did they say? They said that the imperial court should not seize the benefits of the people. What people? Which people? It is themselves, officials, merchants and rich people, not farmers and craftsmen ,servant."

"They think that 'animal farmers first enrich their property and then ask for their support', 'the king does not accumulate livestock, but hides it with the people', 'the people hide it at home, the princes hide it in the country', and the emperor should 'hidden in the sea' What is this saying? The emperor should live on credit? The court should be short-lived?"

"It's still the same sentence, only when the big man is strong, and only when the country is rich, can the people be rich."

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