Lord of the House

As the war in the Jianghuai region subsided and entered a period of calm, news of the war on the northern front also spread to Jiangning.

In October of last winter, Prince Ye Jiluorong of Yan commanded 100,000 cavalry to detour south from the northwest of Qin County. In early November, he fought fiercely with Cao's troops in Guyuan in the north of Qingyang, and Cao's army was defeated and retreated to Qingyang. The Yan army underestimated the enemy and advanced eastward. When they were besieging Qingyang, they sent their troops eastward to Ningzhou. They happened to meet the main force of the Western Qin army led by Cao Yiqu. Victory, Ye Ji Luorong was forced to lead his troops to withdraw from Qingyang and return to the north.

For the first time, the dispute between Cao Yan and Bei Yan ended with the setback of Bei Yan, and the news of Qingyang's siege was released to Jiangning on January 28.

After the Cao Clan invaded the two Sichuans, Jiang Ning's attitude towards Cao Clan was swaying.

In the early years, Zuo Chengmu put forward the proposal of "joining Cao to fight against the captives", but there were many opponents of this proposal. After Cao's invasion of the two Sichuans, he was also a "big thief" for Jiang Ning. Can we "connect" again?

It was not until the She Family Army Division invaded Lingjiangning that many people realized the reality. If it wasn't for the fall last year, when Beiyan's troops focused on attacking Guan and Shaanxi from the west, Huaidong and Huaixi would not have survived last winter so easily.

Compared with greater justice, the real needs and interests are the things that those in power have to consider. After Jiangning's capital was restored, he also paid special attention to the war in Shaanxi.

If Guan Shan falls, Liang Chengyi will not be able to defend alone in Hezhong Mansion; and the Yanlu can go out of Wu Guan to attack Nanyang flank on the one hand, and on the other hand, go south to enter Hanzhong, seize the upper reaches of the Han River, threaten Xiangfan to the east, and force Changle The bandit Luo Xiancheng succumbed to his hoofs - if Cao's clan was killed and Guan Shan was trapped, Jiangning would also be in great passive strategically.

"Guan-Shaan disaster remains unsolved!" Gao Zongting sighed while looking at the map hanging on the wall in the White Tiger Hall of the Privy Council.

The Privy Council was tied with the six ministries. After the imperial guards, the imperial guards, were revoked, the Yuma Prison office near the Jinyang Gate of the imperial city was vacated and occupied by the Privy Council. The guards and horses of the Imperial City were also mainly stationed in Jinyangmen Wengcheng, making the Privy Council and Jinyangmen the core of Jiangning City.

The news of Qingyang's siege made others heave a sigh of relief, and the people in Huaidong felt a lot of pressure.

Qingyang belongs to the border town of Guyuan, which is located between Shaanxi and Gansu in later generations. The Xihe River and the Rou Canal meet in the territory. It is extremely important; the three generations of the Cao family occupy Guyuan, and only then have the strength to separate Guan and Shaanxi and invade the two Sichuans.

Qingyang Mansion is as important to the Cao family as the five counties of Chongzhou are to Huaidong.

If the five counties of Chongzhou were invaded by foreign enemies and fought fiercely, the enemy would be forced to retreat, and the people of Huaidong would not have the joy of winning a great victory after the war... Look at the ruins of Jiangning's periphery, you can know the cruelty of the war; Although the Cao family forced the Yan army to retreat and relieved the siege of Qingyang, it might have actually been fundamentally injured.

"The Cao family did not have the determination and strength to keep the enemy out of Qingyang," Song Fu said, "The defeat of Daguyuan was a wedge for the Yan soldiers to withdraw from the encirclement, but as far as the Yan soldiers were concerned, there should not have been a single time. To capture Qingyang's mind..."

Lin Fu put the charcoal pen behind his ear and looked up at the wall chart. Several red crosses were marked on the line of Qingyang, Ningzhou and Weizhou in the western part of Guan-Shaanxi, from Qingyang and Yulin to the key points in the hinterland of Guan-Shaanxi. Dao also marked it with a color pen and said: "Master Yan's mind is similar to the strategy of seeking Yan Ji in the past. The Yan army's troops are prosperous again, and they want to storm Guyuan and Qingyang in one go to be managed by the Cao family. Decades of heroic city is extremely difficult, first use war to continuously weaken the periphery, and the real ultimate move will stay behind..."

Gao Zongting knew the situation of Yanji back then. From the eighth year of Chongguan, the Yanlu broke through the border crossings, destroyed northern Henan, Yannan and northern Shandong again and again, and completely destroyed the Caodao. There is no way to delay the collapse until the thirteenth year of Chongguan... It is also that the northern line has been supported for four or five years, and the situation of Jianghuai is better.

The Cao family has been operating Guanshan for several years. Qingyang, Ningzhou, and Guyuan are surrounded by war zones. They may be able to draw grain from the hinterland of Guanshan to support the war on the western and northern fronts, but it is hard to say how long it can last. - Cao's family In order to separate the Guan, Shaanxi, and two Sichuan regions, these years, there have been continuous wars and continuous expansion of the army. There were 30,000 Cao Jiaguyuan elites in those days, but today, the total force has increased to 120,000 to 30,000. Even if the Cao family gained something from their operation in the hinterland of Guan and Shaanxi, they would definitely be consumed by maintaining such a huge armament, and it would be impossible to have too much savings.

This is also no way, the same is true for the She family. The poorer they fight, the more they are forced to maintain a larger army. After Shewenzhuang retreats into Jiangzhou, the first step is to recruit people. If Huaidong is not able to use it The money raised by the bank has long since been bankrupted by the huge military equipment and the constant wars.

Lin Fu's method of operating Huaidong is unprecedented in history. He obtained a large amount of war resources through sea trade. The Cao family was separated from Guan and Shan, but it did not have such convenient conditions as Huaidong.

But even so, Huaidong had to maintain an ever-expanding military armament, not to mention that he had not accumulated financial resources, and he still owed money to the bank for three million taels of silver, which accounted for 60% of Huaidong's military spending last year.

At this time, the guards came in to report Lin Xuwen over, and Lin Fu threw the charcoal on the case.

Lin Xuwen came over, looked at the map of Guan and Shaanxi hanging on the wall, and said, "You are also staring at the Qingyang war?"

"Well," Lin Fu asked the guards to move Lin Xuwen to sit on the pier, and asked, "What's the discussion in the political affairs hall?"

"Cheng Yu and Zhang Zuo both suggested 'joining Cao to fight against captives'," Lin Xuwen said. "I want to send envoys into Guanzhong and grant Cao Yiqu the position of deputy minister and governor of Sichuan and Qin."

"It's not unexpected..." Gao Zongting said.

It was Zuo Chengmu who put forward the idea of ​​"joining Cao to fight against captives". Chen Cheng, Zhang Yu and others strongly opposed it and regarded Cao as a big thief. There is no need to continue to screw with the Cao family.

Once it is officially recognized that the Cao family is divided into two Sichuans and Guanshan, the Cao family will be able to reduce the number of troops stationed in the two Sichuans and concentrate more troops, horses and resources on the northern front to fight against the Yanlu, and Liang Chengyi can also formally fight with Cao in Hezhongfu. Allies are united to weaken mutual defenses on the border, in order to respond to the outside...

"This matter can't be managed by the Privy Council, it can be left to the political affairs hall." Lin Fu said.

"Yes, the Privy Council is not involved in this matter." Song Fu also said affirmatively.

Now Cao Zi'ang, Qin Chengzu, Lin Mengde and others have entered the Privy Council with Lin Fu to control the central military and political affairs, but they are each responsible for their own affairs. The people who usually stay by Lin Fu's side to discuss important matters are Gao Zongting and Song Fu.

In the current situation, "joining Cao" is an inevitable move, but if it is not involved at this time, there will be an excuse for overturning the resolution of the Political Office and "invading Cao's family" in the future - this matter does not need to call everyone to discuss it. It can be decided that in addition to confrontation in domestic and foreign affairs, more wars of words will be fought in the future.

"Cheng Yu and Zhang Zuo were afraid that the Privy Council would oppose it, and I didn't think that there would be much support here..." Lin Xuwen said.

"Yeah..." Gao Zongting laughed.

If they recognize the Cao family, the Cao family will also recognize Jiangning, and they will send people into Jiangning. At that time, the Cao family will be a force that Cheng Yu and Zhang Zuo can use to suppress Huaidong. They are naturally worried that the people of Huaidong will oppose this matter.

Lin Fu smiled, stopped talking about it, and asked Lin Xuwen again, "Have you come to a conclusion from the political affairs hall about the matter of borrowing money from the Ministry of Household and Qianzhuang?"

"It's basically the same, but the details are still entangled, maybe it will be delayed for a few days!" Lin Xuwen said, "But it will not be delayed for a few days, so even the official salary is sent out, the longer it is delayed, the pressure will be added to the political affairs hall... …”

"Then let's delay it for a few more days." Lin Fu said, asking Zhou Pu to prepare carriages and horses, he spent a long time in the Privy Council, watching the sun set in the west, he wanted to go back to the house-Jianghuai entered a quiet period, Jiangning has more It is a matter of finding a new balance between the various forces. With Lin Xuwen and others supporting him outside, Lin Fu is much more relaxed, and it is rare to leave more time to accompany his wives and concubines and live a happy nine-to-five life.

Lin Xuwen, Gao Zongting, Song Fu and others were not as relaxed as Lin Fu, so they could only laugh and go with him.

Lin Xuwen now presides over the Ministry of Households and has the heaviest actual responsibility. Lin Fu's plan is to divide political power into six departments. The plan is good, but it must be implemented step by step.

Lin Xuwen is still looking for Lin Mengde, and he is still talking about the bank loan.

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Although the officials who urged the fu have been dispatched to various places, it will take time for each prefecture and county to pay up last year's autumn fu.

At present, the only money Jiangning can spend is the salt tax released from Weiyang~www.wuxiaspot.com~ the salt tax has accumulated for one season, which is only more than 500,000 taels of silver - counties south of Jiangning, Huizhou, Chizhou When it is difficult to return to the hometown, and the government and county yamen need to be re-established, these two incidents will cost more than half of the 500,000 taels of silver.

Last year’s autumn tax itself lost a large chunk of the nearly twenty counties outside Jiangning. Last year’s summer tax and autumn tax in the area controlled by Huaidong had already been spent by Huaidong soldiers and horses, and the summer tax would be officially incorporated into the household. Ministry's revenue and expenditure - Weiyang, Pingjiang, Danyang, Jiaxing and other prefectures were not affected by the war, and fortunately these core elite areas were not affected by the war, last year's Autumn Fu was able to collect nearly three million taels. However, when this tax is collected, first of all, it is necessary to pay the arrears of military capital in Huaixi, Chizhou, Jinghu, Xiangtan and other towns, and wait until the summer tax in the Huaidong area is merged and the central investment in Huaixi is reduced - in Yongxing Before the emperor returned to Jiangning, Huaidong agreed that the local taxes in Huaixi would be supported by the Huaixi camp, but the central military investment in Huaixi must be subtracted from this amount - but Jiangning would then have to pay Huaidong's troops and horses. s expenses.

With just over 500,000 troops, Jiangning's finances may take three to five years to finally recover. However, in addition to military and civil affairs expenditures, official salaries are also the bulk of the central finance. In Luzhou, nearly one million taels of silver deposited by the Ministry of Households, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Industry were all secretly moved to Chizhou and Huaixi. Only More than 200,000 taels of silver were shipped to Huaidong perfunctorily, but after Zhang Chengzuoyu and others returned to Jiangning with officials from the Sixth Department, the fighting eased a little, but the crisis of financial collapse was urgently faced.

In the past, the main way for the central government to deal with the financial crisis was to impose additional taxes or copy two or three large households; Huaidong currently provides a third method, which is to borrow large amounts of money from the bank in the name of the Ministry of Household to cope with the current crisis. Money from the bank is not so easy to lend. My QT room is open! More vulgar official QT room number [9167] Click to enter