Chapter 1575: Contradictions Everywhere

"Father, it doesn't have to come to that!" Probably feeling that Emperor Liu's talk of "drawing the knife" was a bit severe, Liu Yang said: "The militia and righteous volunteers have always been an auxiliary and supplement to the Great Han army. Now we're merely strengthening the border militia to alleviate the increasingly high border army expenditures while also ensuring frontier security—killing two birds with one stone. The Great Han's military system hasn't been changed at all!"

Emperor Liu noticed the confusion in Liu Yang's eyes, paused briefly, and said: "Once this crack is opened, how will things develop and change in the future? Will we further cut regular troops because of fiscal problems?"

"In my view, this is chiseling a hole in the great dike of the Great Han's national defense and military affairs—a breach that could trigger drastic transformation or even collapse of the Great Han's military system."

"An auxiliary is ultimately just an auxiliary. No matter how fierce and well-trained those militia volunteers are, can they replace the court's regular troops on the rolls? Can half-farmer, half-soldier militiamen be compared to a professional army?"

"Merging soldiers and farmers—that's the fubing system. Without the equal-field system, even the old historical path won't be walked steadily. It won't do, truly it won't do..."

Hearing Emperor Liu's words, Liu Yang's brows also furrowed slightly. He looked at him several times in succession, and a hint of frustration crept onto Liu Yang's face, his confusion deepening.

If one word could describe Emperor Liu at this moment, it would be stubborn. His sense of crisis was far too strong. The court, whether from a fiscal or military-administrative standpoint, was due for some changes—even Emperor Liu himself knew this.

Yet that excessive anxiety over gains and losses was truly baffling, and what it conveyed to others—especially to someone as familiar with him as Liu Yang—was that Emperor Liu seemed particularly agitated.

Did Emperor Liu's arguments carry conviction? Not much. They were merely a concern that constantly lingered in his mind—excessive, inexplicable. If he weren't Emperor Liu, Liu Yang would have rebutted him long ago.

While Liu Yang was mulling over how to argue this matter without provoking Emperor Liu's anger, Emperor Liu made his response: "Let's set this aside for now. Such a major matter isn't something the three of us can decide through idle talk in this pavilion. It needs discussion with the chief ministers—pooling everyone's wisdom. I also need to think it over further..."

Not long ago, in the Qionglin Garden, also by this waterside pavilion, the father and son had just made decisions on the century-spanning plan for developing and consolidating the northeast. Back then, Emperor Liu had been absolutely resolute, with no intention of consulting the ministers.

Clearly, the key lay in that last sentence—he needed to think it over further.

"Your Majesty, if you wish to reduce military expenditures, besides military strength, there is another avenue that might yield savings!" Seeing that Emperor Liu still hadn't accepted his proposal—though he hadn't outright rejected it either—Li Jilong hesitated for a moment, then took the initiative to speak.

"Go on!" Emperor Liu's attitude toward his son-in-law remained gentle.

Li Jilong said: "Take Shanyang and Monan as examples. Each year, thirty percent of the border troops' provisions and supplies come from the Shanyang region itself. Aside from a few garrison farms, most are dispatched from Yunzhong. Roughly fifty percent are sent from Taiyuan, and the remainder must be transported annually from the Western Capital to the frontier.

"Your Majesty has also said that the cost of transporting carts, horses, grain, and fodder to supply the border armies each year accounts for a large portion of total expenditure. Transporting military supplies from Yunzhong to the border fortresses along the frontier—the routes range from two hundred li at the shortest to over a thousand li at the longest—results in massive losses of materiel along the way. As for transport from the capital to the border regions, the needless losses in that process are even more severe.

"For the border regions, the cost of military supply stems not only from the great distances but also from poor transportation links and insufficient manpower. Every harvest season, when the government conscripts civilian labor to deliver military supplies, it even has to organize half-grown youths to participate in transport—maintaining the supply lines while ensuring every household can still tend its fields without missing the farming season.

"Therefore, I believe that if we can reduce the losses in the military supply transport process, we could also save a substantial sum of military expenditure..."

Hearing this, Emperor Liu still made no statement. He looked at Li Jilong, pondering for a while, before saying: "Regarding transport losses, the court has not failed to think of measures. Whether increasing carts, boats, and draft animals, or building roads and opening routes—all have been attempted. But the transportation conditions at the frontier are simply what they are—not as convenient and accessible as the Central Plains. The Great Han is too vast; it's impossible to achieve the same thorough network as the interior, smooth all the way. Some transport losses are necessary and unavoidable!"

Li Jilong said: "In the past, the court has built charity granaries and official reserves in various circuits and prefectures to prepare for emergencies, with notable results. I believe we could construct several military granaries at key frontier passes and strategic points, to store grain, flour, weapons, clothing, and other military supplies. This way, we'd be prepared for war, and in peacetime, supplies could be dispatched from closer at hand—timely and convenient!"

Hearing this, Emperor Liu shook his head and said: "But after building those military supply depots, filling them to the brim would still require transporting materiel from other places. The transport losses in that process remain unavoidable. What's saved and made convenient is merely the supply to the frontier garrisons—while other regions still transport to the border..."

At this point, Emperor Liu suddenly paused. His eyes unconsciously narrowed slightly as he regarded Li Jilong with a hint of amusement: "Batu, you wouldn't be hinting that I should overhaul the Great Han's military supply system, would you!"

Li Jilong was momentarily taken aback, then shook his head: "I have no such intention, Your Majesty. I merely offered this suggestion regarding the current military supply transport on the northern frontier. If there are oversights or errors, I beg Your Majesty's forgiveness!"

Hearing Li Jilong say this, Emperor Liu smiled faintly. He felt that this son-in-law meant exactly that, and thus said with deep meaning: "You are a border general. Considering military intelligence and affairs, wanting to make improvements—that is indeed within your duties, beyond reproach. However, knowing one's place is still very important. Some matters, some problems—the court is not blind to them, but the court has its own comprehensive and holistic considerations!"

From Emperor Liu's words, Li Jilong detected a hint of warning. His body tensed, and he hurriedly rose to bow: "Your Majesty's instruction is correct. This official spoke out of turn!"

Emperor Liu shook his head, gesturing for him to sit, then sank back into deep thought himself.

Why did the court supply border army logistics in batches and segments, making it so complicated? The fundamental reason was to keep the border armies' logistics firmly in the court's hands, ensuring control over the military.

But this also created a problem—massive losses in supply. Li Jilong's words weren't wrong; many losses in this process were needless and avoidable, as long as a principle of dispatching from the nearest source was adopted.

In the early years, when the Great Han had not yet unified the realm and its territory had not expanded to such vastness, even dispatching military supplies from the capital was sufficient and didn't seem so wasteful.

But now it was clearly different. The expenditure on transport losses would make even the Great Han, with its vast size, feel the pain. Take the southwestern circuits of Yunnan and Annam—if all military supplies were allocated from the capital, it simply wouldn't be realistic.

The court had long considered these issues. Combined with the two northern expeditions and several outward expansions, major adjustments had already been made to logistics supply long ago—stockpiling and transshipping materiel in circuits and prefectures near the frontier.

For example, the border troops along the Shanyang line—by now, half of their materiel is allocated from Taiyuan, while what's actually supplied directly by Shanyang Circuit accounts for only a small portion.

But these changes hadn't fundamentally reversed the situation, because a considerable portion of Taiyuan's military supply reserves also came transshipped from the two capitals.

Tracing it back to the source, one had to land on the Great Han's fiscal and tax transport system. In the early years, due to the fragmentation of military provinces, in order to level local power bases and concentrate authority in the central government, Emperor Liu had wielded the knife fiercely against the localities—military power and fiscal power being where he struck hardest.

From the very beginning, he continuously reduced the annual retained grain, money, and tax revenues of each region—from fifty percent to thirty percent, to twenty percent, until finally everything was turned over entirely, with the court making unified distribution and coordinated allocation.

It had to be said that this was indeed a case of overcorrection. The result was that the court firmly grasped the nation's fiscal power and achieved control over the localities—but equally, in that process of funds flowing in and out, massive needless losses were generated.

Moreover, the policy of localities turning over all retained revenues to the court didn't last long—less than two years before it was abandoned. The court began relaxing restrictions again, loosening the reins.

By now, localities retaining twenty percent of their annual tax revenues for local construction, administrative operations, and daily expenditures has become established practice. And this is even with court taxation fully converted to copper-coin accounting.

Back then, even grain, silk, and cloth had to be turned over in full. The waste generated at that time was truly staggering—mobilizing the entire nation's resources to support a single Kaifeng city was the reality of that era.

But no matter how the fiscal distribution system between the central government and localities changed, military supply provision never underwent fundamental change. Even in the fifteenth year of Kaibao, it remained dominated by the Ministry of War, which coordinated and scheduled logistics for the entire nation's armed forces, with vast quantities of grain and weapons indeed dispatched from the two capitals. This was the most powerful and effective means by which the court controlled the military—especially given the massive scale of the border armies.

Li Jilong's suggestion wasn't without merit. At least following a nearest-dispatch principle, some seemingly redundant practices could be avoided. For instance, Hebei's military grain needn't first be transported to the capital, then sent from the capital to Taiyuan, then transshipped to Shanyang, and finally distributed to the various armies and garrison forts. Instead, it could be shipped directly from Hebei to Taiyuan and Shanyang. There was considerable room for improvement in this.

As for building military supply depots in the border regions—first and foremost, Emperor Liu would put a big question mark on that. Never mind anything else—when border troops could draw grain and weapons from nearby, if some day something went wrong and they rebelled, wouldn't it be all the more convenient? They'd just need to breach those depots to obtain supplies for an uprising...

In light of this, Emperor Liu would rather endure more losses in the supply process than relax control. Take the border troops along the Shanyang line—having the two logistics bases of Yunzhong and Taiyuan to sustain them was sufficient; there was no need to build additional military granaries.

This nighttime conversation between father and son, father-in-law and son-in-law, lasted a long time—nearly until midnight before it ended. Three jugs of wine were consumed, five plates of appetizers were polished off, and they'd also enjoyed ample lake scenery and moonlight.

From the vigorous tribal policies unfolding in the border regions, to the security issues of the northern frontier, extending to military strength and garrison defense, then to military supply and the logistics system.

He suddenly realized that his Great Han Empire seemed to have problems everywhere—as if everything needed adjustment and reform to cope with development in the new era. This left Emperor Liu frustrated and perplexed, yet he had to rouse his spirits.

Conquering the realm is hard; holding it is harder still. Emperor Liu felt this even more deeply, and the more peaceful the times, the more caution was required. After all, in times of peace, many dangers and contradictions lie hidden beneath the calm, unruffled surface of the water—highly deceptive, and all too easy to lull people into complacency.