Chapter 259: Pandora's Box

The next day, Fang Chongyong indeed summoned the military commissioners of the Red Water Army and the Great Dou Army who lived nearby, asking them to come to Liangzhou for a meeting. Also in attendance were representatives of prominent local families of Liangzhou, every one of them wearing a grave expression, heavy with concern.

Fang Chongyong said he would issue "jiaozi" to replace silk bolts as the circulating currency in the five prefectures of Hexi. This sounded simple enough, but in practice it carried many hard requirements, and the local powerful families would also have to cooperate earnestly.

First, these powerful families had to take out a large portion of the silk bolts from their storehouses and hand them over to the Hexi Jiedushi's office, in exchange for a certain quantity of jiaozi. This was not "buying shares" but rather a routine business operation of the money house, similar to depositing money.

In other words, they were taking the lead in making deposits to demonstrate support for the policy, and objectively reducing the amount of silk bolts in circulation, thereby creating conditions for jiaozi to gradually replace silk.

Second, as an exchange of interests, these men also had to invest substantial funds as shareholders in the money house that exchanged jiaozi. This portion of money—the principal—could never be recovered; they could only receive a small "dividend" each year, and could not interfere with the operation of the jiaozi shop.

As for the transfer of shares, that was not a matter for the imperial court or the Jiedushi to worry about.

Finally, in their daily lives, these local powerful families also needed to take the lead in using jiaozi, so that this "little trinket" made of paper could circulate across a wider area.

However, after thinking it over for a few days, many of them came to their senses.

These local power brokers had handed over things of real gold and silver, only to receive a pile of "paper."

The Hexi Jiedushi's office appeared to have proposed a new model of wealth circulation and a new means of making money.

But in reality... the government had pulled off something from nothing, contributing absolutely nothing at all!

Among them, many realized that the so-called "jiaozi" was essentially a kind of "bond." It was equivalent to the money house owing them money, issuing an unregistered IOU. Then, when they conducted daily transactions, they were merely transferring the money house's debt among themselves.

When they needed silk bolts and such goods, they would take this "IOU" to the money house and redeem the physical goods—equivalent to the money house repaying its debt!

How to put this thing... it just felt quite extraordinary!

This Hexi Jiedushi was truly a genius at raking in money!

Everyone in the hall vaguely felt that the proposal Fang Chongyong had put forward earlier should not be underestimated, but debates within each family were also fierce, and for the moment a decision was hard to reach.

They had come today to sound him out.

"Gentlemen, I have resolved to move the headquarters of the Hexi Jiedushi from Liangzhou to Shazhou, and have already written a memorial to the court.

The draft of the memorial is here. Read it and pass it around. If there are no objections, I shall send it to the Sage for him to decide."

It would have been better if Fang Chongyong had not opened his mouth; the moment he did, his words sent everyone present into shock!

"Jiedushi, this must not be done! Liangzhou is a key stronghold in the northwest, a prefecture designated by the court. Not stationing the Jiedushi's headquarters in Liangzhou but moving it to Shazhou—would that not be a grave error!"

The moment An Chongzhang heard Fang Chongyong's "suggestion," he stood up directly to refute it, not even glancing at the draft memorial in the other man's hand.

"Indeed, Jiedushi, please think thrice. Liangzhou has a population of several hundred thousand. Shazhou's population has grown slightly in recent years, but it still cannot exceed a hundred thousand.

If the Hexi Jiedushi's headquarters is not in Liangzhou, where else could it go?"

The military commissioner of the Great Dou Army, a prominent local family of Liangzhou who had settled there after submitting to the Tang in the early dynasty, Qibi Ning, of the Qibi tribe of the Tiele people, ventured cautiously.

He had no great interest in matters like opening a money house and issuing jiaozi; he neither supported nor opposed it, content to go with the flow. But the Hexi Jiedushi's headquarters absolutely could not leave Liangzhou!

The gravity of this matter far exceeded any such thing as jiaozi—it was absolutely no joking matter!

"Read it first, then we shall talk."

Fang Chongyong waved his hand lightly and said, sitting in the main seat of the hall, unmoved as a mountain. Yan Zhuang took the draft from his hand, delivered it to An Chongzhang, and then stepped back to one side.

He had initially been somewhat dismissive of Fang Chongyong's "foolishness," but after reading the entire memorial, An Chongzhang realized that Fang Chongyong was not fooling around at all—the arguments inside were well-reasoned and convincing.

For the reason behind "moving" the Jiedushi's office, Fang Chongyong directly gave an irrefutable justification: he wanted to launch a distant expedition to the Western Regions!

Or to put it more simply: Hexi was garrisoned with heavy troops, with no warfare, and was simply too idle, needlessly consuming the nation's rations—he felt deeply uneasy about it.

Given the current strategic situation, a major downsizing of the Hexi army was inevitable! Otherwise it would be a pure waste of the nation's money and grain.

But once the army was downsized, the northwest defenses would inevitably be weakened. As the saying goes, train troops for a thousand days, use them for one moment—one could not wait until troops were needed, only to remember that the Hexi soldiers had all been cut.

Therefore, Fang Chongyong proposed in the memorial that the Hexi Jiedushi's headquarters be relocated to Shazhou, just a step away from the Western Regions, and that twenty thousand elite troops be transferred from the Red Water Army in Liangzhou for a distant expedition west of the Pamirs!

And whom would they fight west of the Pamirs?

The answer was Greater and Lesser Bolü! That is, the Kashmir region of Fang Chongyong's previous life.

In the eleventh year of the Kaiyuan era, the King of Lesser Bolü accepted investiture from the Great Tang and became its vassal state.

But after that, the King of Lesser Bolü was forced to marry a Tibetan princess and shifted his allegiance to Tibet. Influenced by this, more than twenty neighboring states all turned toward Tibet.

The Tang army campaigned several times, but under the Tibetans' stubborn defense, each expedition returned empty-handed—they had been thoroughly humiliated.

In terms of national righteousness, Lesser Bolü had broken faith and betrayed its obligations, so the Great Tang's military action was fully justified.

Dealing with Lesser Bolü would serve as a display of power to the Western Region states west of the Pamirs, as well as the various Sogdian merchant caravans active along the Western Region trade routes.

Those who offend the mighty Han, no matter how distant, shall be punished! Lesser Bolü had broken faith back then; now it would be annihilated to demonstrate the Great Tang's national might!

Was a distant military expedition necessary?

Those present did not know, but they guessed that the aging Son of Heaven would certainly deem this action highly necessary!

The Great Tang and Tibet were currently in a brief period of peace, having not yet torn up relations. So if the Great Tang taught Lesser Bolü—a turncoat—a lesson, would Tibet help or not?

It was hard to say.

Because this was not a key area of Tibetan operations, if the Tang army struck swiftly and decisively, the Tibetans might find they had entered too late, with no spoils to gain, and perhaps would not act.

But regardless, even if the Tibetans sent troops to "lend a fist," being stabbed in the back like this by the Tang army would certainly make them feel very uncomfortable!

They would have to transfer units of the Zanpu's imperial guard from the Supi region to the Pamirs to supervise the battle.

Did this count as relieving strategic pressure on the Tang army in Longyou? Naturally it did—the classic tactic of besieging Wei to rescue Zhao.

Everyone present mulled it over: if one set aside the uncontrollable risks of an army striking across a thousand li, Fang Chongyong's stab in the back was exceedingly clever!

As for Liangzhou being left with thin defenses, that was not a problem at all. Because the road from Liangzhou to Guanzhong was now very smooth—much smoother than the road from Guanzhong to Longyou.

In an emergency, it would be very convenient for the imperial army in Guanzhong to reinforce Liangzhou.

From this perspective, moving the Hexi Jiedushi's office to Shazhou was quite appropriate, as it represented the Great Tang's strategic direction pointing toward the Western Regions. And the easternmost starting point of the Western Regions was Shazhou's Dunhuang County. Again, the establishment of a Jiedushi was closely tied to the Great Tang's military strategy—it was not a matter of stationing the headquarters wherever a region happened to be wealthy.

If this memorial were submitted, it could very well produce two entirely different outcomes.

If the Son of Heaven in Chang'an wished to manage the northwest conservatively, then a major downsizing of the forces under the Hexi Jiedushi was already inevitable. After all, the northern steppe was relatively calm at present, with the various Tiele tribes, including the Uighurs, keeping one another in check and acknowledging the Great Tang as their sovereign.

The establishment of the Hexi Jiedushi had originally been to sever the connection between the northern steppe and Tibet, and to ensure the routes through the Western Regions remained open.

Since the frontier was now stable, downsizing the army was only natural. Even without downsizing, the possibility of transferring a portion of the Hexi border troops to garrison in the Longyou Jiedushi's defense area was also very real.

If it truly came to that, the prominent local families of Hexi and the frontier soldiers would certainly suffer great misfortune, and whether the Hexi Jiedushi's headquarters moved or not would no longer matter.

Of course, the likelihood of such a thing happening was very small.

Because based on years of experience, the Tang Emperor Li Longji was an emperor who loved grand achievements and glory. From his constant reinforcement of the northwest, one could tell that in his struggle against the Tibetans, he was unwilling to suffer even the slightest loss!

Furthermore, controlling the Western Regions and expanding Tang territory ten thousand li beyond was the frontier expansion direction that the Tang had sustained for several generations since the founding of the dynasty. Disarming the Hexi not only carried the risk of strategic loss of control, but the discharged soldiers were also prone to causing trouble, destabilizing the frontier garrisons.

Therefore, Brother Ji, seated in Chang'an, was more likely to agree with Fang Chongyong's plan and let him lead a portion of Hexi's elite troops on a campaign to the Western Regions!

Under this premise, the minor matter of relocating the Jiedushi's garrison was not worth mentioning—whatever was convenient would do, for Brother Ji only cared about results!

Little Balur controlled the vital route of the Tibetan advance toward the Four Anxi Garrisons, and could be called the gateway to the Western Regions; it was now indirectly controlled by the Tibetans. Everyone present pondered this briefly, and all felt that this newly appointed Hexi Jiedushi Fang Chongyong sitting in the master's seat had thoroughly fathomed the Tang Emperor's mind.

The emperor did not care how many frontier soldiers died, but he cared very much whether the border was secure and where the empire's boundaries lay.

The Tang frontier army did not keep idle men. Now that Hexi had no war, Fang Chongyong proposed a distant expedition to Congling—who dared to stand up and oppose it?

Did they truly not fear Brother Ji abolishing their units?

Since the Kaiyuan era, among the northwest frontier armies, there were not only "Shouzhuo" upgraded to "Jun," but likewise "Jun" downgraded to "Shouzhuo," and even those whose unit designations were directly revoked.

Frontier army units were absolutely not something that could only be expanded and never reduced; entire frontier armies being transferred away was even more commonplace.

On the contrary, situations where Tang military deployments changed due to strategic shifts occurred repeatedly.

Seeing that everyone was silent, Fang Chongyong said with deep meaning, "Gentlemen, we are marching all the way to Congling. Wherever our Hexi frontier army goes, this jiaozi will be issued. Using this thin slip of paper to exchange for all kinds of rare goods from the Western Regions—is that not good?"

Hearing these words, everyone in the hall—whether the military commissioners or the representatives of Liangzhou's local strongmen—all suddenly understood.

Promoting the use of jiaozi in Liangzhou naturally did not mean putting a knife to the locals' necks; the local powerful families had to take the lead in using it, supplemented by official directives to investigate and punish lawbreakers.

But in the Western Regions, the rules were different.

Whoever did not use it, the Tang army would make them use it at swordpoint! It was tantamount to plundering wealth, but the method was far more clever than outright robbery!

After all, this was also a kind of "IOU," and its credit was far better than an IOU's!

Those wealthy men and foreign merchants of the Western Regions—holding jiaozi, they could still freely exchange it for silk in the five Hexi prefectures; it was not as if it truly could not be exchanged!

Jiaozi was easy to carry, and it saved the cost of transport along the way! Looking at it this way, it was by no means without its benefits!

"Jiedushi Fang, relocating the Jiedushi's office is really quite unnecessary.

As for the Congling campaign that the Jiedushi mentioned, that is quite interesting. I believe we can summon the various generals of the Chishui Army to discuss and select ten thousand elite soldiers, in preparation for any eventuality."

An Zhongzhang clasped his hands in a salute to Fang Chongyong.

"Yes, yes, yes, regarding the matter of jiaozi, we will go back and discuss it with our families. This money shop for exchanging jiaozi must definitely be opened."

"Indeed, indeed. We have operated in Hexi for many years, and our households still have some spare wealth—just sitting there idle."

Everyone chimed in agreement, all talking at once.

They naturally understood that the expenditures needed for a grand campaign would mostly come from the goods stored in the money shop's vaults—that is, the portion of silk exchanged for jiaozi!

If this money was used to fight a war, then the meat was still in the pot even if overcooked—no big deal.

Even without jiaozi, by the Tang's usual methods, they would most likely requisition grain from Hexi's local wealthy families, and the result would be no different.

"Mm, since that is the case, then I shall remove this clause—there is no need to relocate the Jiedushi's garrison for now.

As for the campaign to the Western Regions, none of you object, correct?"

Fang Chongyong asked with a smile.

"We all follow the Jiedushi's orders!"

Everyone present said in unison.

"Mm, you may all disperse. I still have a memorial to write, and with official duties to attend to, I will not see you out."

Fang Chongyong rose to his feet, turned his head, and walked away, leaving behind a large crowd in the office hall, all wearing thoughtful expressions—no one knew what the others were truly thinking.

They vaguely felt that the tide of the era seemed to have already come crashing toward them, and if they did not act now, they would surely die on the beach.

……

"Jiedushi, this move of yours is truly brilliant!"

In the study, Yan Zhuang could not help but give Fang Chongyong a thumbs-up; he was genuinely convinced. That bunch of Hexi soldiers had been manipulated perfectly by Fang Chongyong!

Relocating the Hexi Jiedushi's garrison was merely a feint—loudly proclaimed, but even if actually carried out, it would not solve any real problems at all.

Fang Chongyong's true leverage over the Hexi frontier army lay in the phrase "frontier garrisons do not keep idle men."

The nation's frontier defense policy was also constantly being adjusted. The advance and contraction of armies both depended on the situation encountered.

Bai Juyi wrote in a poem: "Once the ten-thousand-li frontier of Anxi in times of peace; today the border defense lies at Fengxiang."

He was describing exactly this kind of situation.

Hexi had always been contested ground for strategists, and had historically been a key frontier stronghold—this was indeed no falsehood.

But because the Tang's martial prowess was abundant and a large strategic buffer zone had been gained, Hexi had become the rear, serving only to guard against Tibetan diversionary forces.

To concentrate seventy or eighty thousand Tang elite troops for such a light strategic burden was inexcusable no matter how one looked at it.

In the history of Fang Chongyong's previous life, during the Tianbao era, the Hexi frontier army was in fact constantly transferred to the Longyou region to participate in combat, while the five Hexi prefectures themselves remained unusually calm, with no warfare at all.

The fatal weakness of the Tang frontier army was that if they did not pick fights, if the frontier garrisons were truly stable, then the long-campaign stalwarts would no longer be necessary, and having their units drastically cut was inevitable.

This was one of the fundamental differences between recruited soldiers and militia soldiers. Militia unit sizes were flexible—when no longer needed, they went home to farm—whereas recruited soldiers were obviously different.

Would it be having their units cut, or being transferred to the bitter cold of Longyou to clash with the Tibetans, or going on a distant campaign to the Western Regions?

Fang Chongyong felt that however they should choose, the commanding generals of the Hexi frontier army knew full well in their hearts.

"They are all useless. Without the jiaozi method, the Sage would never agree to a distant expedition to Congling.

After you go to Chang'an, remember to bribe Gao Lishi extensively. Of course, remember to send jiaozi.

Once the jiaozi is printed, I will send someone to deliver it to the Hexi Jinzou Yuan. Which officials to bribe, you act as circumstances dictate."

Fang Chongyong waved his hand and said with a calm expression.

This move was just like the dollar cycle—if the currency was not released and kept circulating only within one's own controlled territory, it would not work; it would only cause massive inflation. The Western Region merchants and court aristocrats in particular would be the main force using jiaozi.

Without abundant martial prowess, without the resolve to punish no matter how distant, one could not keep these cunning foreign merchants in check!

Without enticing benefits, one could not attract the Chang'an aristocrats to support jiaozi either.

And with jiaozi and the exchange houses for jiaozi, Brother Ji no longer cared for so-called Western Region smuggling.

Fang Chongyong felt that no matter what business one did, nothing was faster than printing money! Since he had to untangle Hexi's predicament, he might as well play for high stakes!

As for what Brother Ji would make of things later on, that was beyond his control. Even without jiaozi, the powerful and noble would not be soft-handed in plundering wealth; whether jiaozi existed or not would not fundamentally change the situation of the Great Tang.

It was just like how a kitchen knife was meant for cutting vegetables, yet could also be used to kill. Jiaozi was originally meant to stimulate the economy, yet could also be used to plunder wealth.

The weapon itself was not guilty; the guilty ones could only be the people who used it.

Can people truly suppress the greed within their hearts?

Thinking of this, Fang Chongyong said to Yan Zhuang with a solemn expression, "Just carry out your duties well, don't think about anything else. Don't do what shouldn't be done."

(End of this chapter)