Chapter 667: Loyal Minister Gui, Loyal Prince Jiong

When Creditors Stop Crying, There Will Come a Day to Abolish the Feudatories. "Transferable feudatory debt notes? This... this can't possibly be repaid! Who would want such notes?"

Wu Sangui put on a long face and counted on his fingers for Huang Jiang and Su Sheng: "Don't think this garrison's jurisdiction is small — but Gansu and Shaanxi are poor lands, simply no match for the southeast. Moreover, the greater part of this garrison's land has been distributed to the three hundred and thirty Chiliarchs below. The land directly held by this garrison amounts only to one Xi'an Prefecture, plus the cities of Lanzhou, Guyuan Prefecture, Pingliang County, Xining Guard, Suzhou, and Liangzhou, along with their surrounding lands, and some passes with their surrounding lands — in all only seven or eight million mu. Truly, there's hardly any money to be made from it!

Relying on the land-tax revenue from seven or eight million mu, how could so much debt possibly be repaid? And this year Shaanxi has suffered drought again — in many places not a single grain was harvested! To be frank, this garrison's annual income now is not even enough to pay the interest... and the whole garrison still has expenses, and the three hundred and thirty Chiliarchs still have so many holes to fill. Wu is truly at the end of his rope!"

Huang Jiang and Su Sheng looked at Wu Sangui with sympathy — how pitiful, so badly off he had no way to live!

But who told you, in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, to refuse to lead ten thousand or so men south to the Tianjin garrison? Had you gone south, it would now be "Zhu and Wu, sharing the realm"!

"Do not be anxious, Duke. Since this marquis and the Earl of Xinhui have come to Xiangyang, it is precisely to discuss with the Duke's creditors a way to make the Duke's debts repayable... We trust those creditors do not truly wish to drive the Duke to his death, do they?"

"Indeed. The Duke holds heavy troops. If he were truly driven to desperation, would those creditors meet a good end?"

At these words, Wu Sangui was on the verge of tears. "Don't speak of heavy troops — they are all this garrison's creditors! What this garrison owes them is a debt of blood! If it cannot be repaid..."

He stretched out a hand and made a beheading gesture! Ordinary creditors want money; these Gansu-Shaanxi old soldiers want lives! Wu Sangui's core force had been badly mauled at Heshangyuan, and he was already finding it hard to keep control — the Gansu-Shaanxi military households were too numerous, so the men they lost were replenished at once!

But the Liaodong men under Wu Sangui were too few — one dead meant one fewer, and replacements would take ten or twenty years to grow up! So after the battle of Heshangyuan, Wu Sangui was already somewhat unable to hold the situation together.

Su Sheng laughed: "That's true enough. So the Duke must keep borrowing — his credit must not collapse..."

Huang Jiang asked: "My Lord Duke, how much debt do you owe in total?"

Wu Sangui shook his head: "Too much. Interest is added every day. The exact figure would require checking the account books..."

Huang Jiang said: "Give a rough figure, and leave out the interest — just the principal."

Wu Sangui sighed: "The principal is no small sum either — over 2.6 million taels... of which 2.2 million is old debt from last year and the year before, and 400,000 is new borrowing from this year! If His Majesty does not permit the abolition of the feudatories, this garrison will have to keep borrowing... but the interest is simply too high. Even thirty percent can't hold it down; I fear it will go to forty or fifty percent! What is to be done?"

Su Sheng laughed: "There is always a way. Has the Duke brought his creditors with him?"

"I have brought some — twenty or thirty of them, all major creditors..."

Huang Jiang laughed: "Then arrange for us to meet with the creditors!"

"Wuwu..."

"Wah-wah..."

"Our lot is bitter... we are poor!"

"Honorable lords, save us..."

"We can't go on living!"

This was a crowd of usurious creditors weeping and pleading before the two "imperial commissioners," Huang Jiang and Su Sheng!

Their usury had also run at a loss!

Wu Sangui spread his hands — no silver. The Ming court kept its distance and refused to take over the debt. What were these usurers to do? Never mind violent debt collection — they did not even dare sue at the Court of Judicial Review! And even if they won the suit, what then?

What Wu Sangui owed was feudatory debt, not his personal debt... this point was very clear: feudatory debts are repaid by the feudatory! It could not be made Wu Sangui's private obligation! If the debt were truly pinned on Wu Sangui personally, the creditors' troubles would be even greater!

According to the *Great Ming Code*, Volume Nine, "Household Law — Money Debts": one who owes a debt and defaults without repaying — above five strings of cash, three months in default, ten strokes of the light bamboo; for each additional month, one degree more severe, up to forty strokes; above fifty strings, three months in default, thirty strokes; for each additional month, one degree more severe, up to sixty strokes of the heavy bamboo; and the principal and interest are to be recovered and given to the creditor.

That is to say, if the more than two million owed by the Gansu-Shaanxi feudatory were all charged to Wu Sangui personally, the penalty would be no more than sixty strokes on the buttocks... Who was Wu Sangui? Could he not endure sixty strokes? Besides, the Court of Judicial Review would not dare beat Wu Sangui to death! They would certainly pat him lightly sixty times and be done with it.

So the debt could only be charged to the feudatory.

And if a feudatory defaulted on its debt, the Court of Judicial Review could not adjudicate the case... the matter would probably require a war to resolve!

Therefore, once the two litigation masters who had accompanied Huang Jiang and Su Sheng explained the provisions on "money debts" in the *Great Ming Code*, the crowd of creditors could do nothing but weep and plead.

"Gentlemen, do not weep. Speak properly..."

"Is it not merely two or three million taels? Since you gentlemen dared to lend to the Duke of Jin, you must all be men of large business. Is it worth weeping and wailing over this bit of money?"

Huang Jiang and Su Sheng tried to console them, but those who wanted to weep still wept. Of course there were also those who did not weep — namely Wu Sangui's largest creditor, one of the Great Qing's nine imperial merchants, Jia Bushi.

Though he sighed and groaned in front of Wu Sangui, and even said Dodo might have his head cut off... in fact he had ways to fill the hole!

Even if Wu Sangui truly defaulted, he could still find several hundred thousand or a million elsewhere.

Because he had treasures in hand! Grave goods that the Great Qing's heavenly troops had dug up while robbing tombs at Qufu... these were relics of Confucius! Would not all the wealthy Confucian merchants of the southeast scramble to buy them?

So when he saw the others weeping as though at a funeral, he merely felt somewhat annoyed. He simply coughed heavily a few times and, on behalf of all the creditors, began negotiating with Huang Jiang and Su Sheng.

"I, Jia Bao, have something to say!"

Huang Jiang and Su Sheng exchanged a glance. Su Sheng spoke first: "Manager Jia, please speak."

"My two lords, let us not beat around the bush. Speak plainly... Will this debt be repaid or not? And how?"

Huang Jiang laughed: "The debt will of course be repaid. To repay what one owes is the natural justice of heaven and earth!"

Su Sheng added: "But you must not press too hard... Press too hard, and if the Duke of Jin flees, the Gansu-Shaanxi feudatory will lose its backbone. If it is then seized by the eastern barbarians or the roving bandits, you will truly lose everything."

"But where would the Duke of Jin and the Prince of Dai get the money to repay?"

The speaker was one of Zhu Cijiong's "fathers-in-law," a Shanxi merchant whose daughter had become Zhu Cijiong's concubine — which showed how deeply he was entangled.

He knew the finances of the Prince of Dai's household all too well: expenditures exceeded income!

Huang Jiang laughed: "Whether the Duke of Jin and the Prince of Dai have money to repay is not the question. The question is whether the value of the two feudatories of Gansu and Shaanxi is far greater than the debt... If the value of the two feudatories far exceeds the debt, the court will abolish the feudatories and take them over!"

"What? The court really will abolish the feudatories?"

"Truly?"

"That would be wonderful..."

At the news that abolition was in prospect, the creditors all stopped weeping and stared eagerly at Huang Jiang and Su Sheng, firing questions.

"Do not be impatient, gentlemen. The court's finances are not ample at present, and it cannot take over the Gansu-Shaanxi territory." Huang Jiang explained, "But in the future the feudatories will certainly be abolished... and when that happens, the Gansu-Shaanxi feudatory debts will be the court's responsibility!"

Su Sheng took up the thread: "Therefore we must now ascertain the full extent of the Gansu-Shaanxi feudatory debts, and also reduce the interest somewhat... three percent monthly interest will not do; at most half a percent monthly can be allowed. Nor can the Gansu-Shaanxi feudatory be permitted to borrow without restraint. Henceforth the Gansu-Shaanxi feudatory may issue debt notes only through the two banks. The notes may be transferred, and will carry agreed repayment dates, interest-payment dates, and coupons... As for the previous old debts, a repayment date must also be set — let it be the day the Gansu-Shaanxi feudatories are abolished. Be patient, gentlemen, and wait! During the waiting period, you will still receive interest each year. If you urgently need money, you may also transfer the notes."

If the Chongzhen Retired Emperor was an unreasonable good man, then the Hongxing Emperor was beyond doubt a reasonable bad man.

He did not take over the two feudatories of Gansu and Shaanxi because he lacked the financial means to do so.

Feudatories had low operating costs, strong revenue-raising capacity, and strong ability to defend their territories. With the central government's finances in extreme difficulty, the only option was to establish feudatories to share part of the central government's fiscal burden.

But once the central government had money, he was still willing to take the feudatories over — and would also give a reasonable return to the feudatory lords who plugged the state's black holes, and to the creditors who lent to the feudatories.