Chapter 668: Bonds Are Out — Come and Buy!

When Wu Sangui entered the East Lake Detached Palace again, he was already formally the Military Governor of the Pacifying West Army!

Although he was a regional governor with heavy troops in hand and great power at his disposal, Wu Sangui could not feel the slightest trace of kingly or hegemonic aura about himself. He remained weighed down with worries, his mind full of how to borrow money, how to repay debts, where to find silver to cover the shortfall, and how to squeeze out cash coin by coin from the Pacifying West Army's enormous daily expenses!

It had to be said, the lord of this "limited-liability feudatory" was not at all easy to be.

He had to be responsible for his own profits and losses, had to manage painstakingly, had to handle matters properly on all sides — the slightest misstep meant the feudatory's ruin and his own death!

He had come to East Lake Palace again today for no other reason than to find money to plug the holes. Before leaving Xi'an, he had already worked the abacus with his staff — being a feudatory lord was hard!

Wu Sangui's jurisdiction was not small. The registered arable land was about 20 million mu, and the 330 Chiliarchs below him occupied about half of it — on average, each Chiliarch held 30,000 mu. The remaining half was directly administered land of the Duke's estate (now the Military Governor's office).

Though called "directly administered," most of it actually had owners, and the ducal estate (the Military Governor's office) only had the right to levy taxes. But this was Shaanxi — how much tax could one expect to collect? Dry land that saw only a few rains all year produced little harvest; ten million mu might not even yield ten million shi of flour, and a one-tenth tax came to only one million shi.

In addition, there were some cities and customs posts that could collect a bit of commercial tax. But Shaanxi's commerce was not well developed, and the commercial center was not in Wu Sangui's territory anyway — it was in Yulin.

Yulin was where the grasslands and the farming region met, which made it easier for a commercial center to form. And trading with the grasslands could produce rich profits — although exchanging firearms for fine grassland horses looked a bit "incorrect," it really could make money!

After gaining Shaanxi and Gansu, the Great Ming court no longer seemed very short of horses. But the supply of warhorses was still scarce — the horse breeds of Shaanxi and Gansu were also grassland breeds, that is, close to the natural, primitive type. Naturally they came in all shapes and sizes, tall, short, fat, thin — much like human beings. Among them, the grassland horses that could serve as warhorses were the equivalent of mighty, tall and strong men among humans. Not one in a hundred, but one in ten or one in twenty.

In other words, to obtain enough fine horses, one needed herds twenty or thirty times that number. And the horse population in the farming regions of Gansu and Shaanxi was still insufficient. By the one-in-twenty standard, the warhorses selected could not even necessarily satisfy the Pacifying West and Northern Frontier feudatories — how could there be any surplus to supply the Ming armies in the southeast?

The Ming army in the southeast now had a land force approaching 600,000 men. Even if some were garrison and sub-garrison troops not on the front line, they could still form at least 160 infantry regiments (400,000 men).

But to organize these 160 regiments into 40 model divisions with powerful field capability in five years, Zhu Cilang would have to provide at least 40 cavalry battalions and 40 division-level artillery regiments. This required equipping nearly 1,000 three-pounder cannons and 50,000 warhorses (draft horses). The cannons were easy enough — bronze cannons were extremely durable and would hardly be damaged even after decades of use. So it was simply a matter of casting 200 a year, sixteen or seventeen a month.

But 50,000 horses — if they were mainly grassland horses (with such a large number, they could not all be folded-ear horses), one would need herds of at least several hundred thousand to support that figure!

Even with Gansu and Shaanxi, it was impossible to raise that many horses.

So the Northern Frontier Army's "guns for horses" business could make a great deal of money!

And Wu Sangui's Pacifying West Army had fallen out with the powerful Khoshut tribe over the earlier detention of the Fifth Dalai Lama. So the Pacifying West Army did not dare to deal with the Mongols on the Hetao grasslands the way the Northern Frontier Army had, to establish authority — without establishing authority, one could not do business properly! And establishing authority might trigger a long-term war with the Khoshut Mongols!

So the Pacifying West Army's grassland trade was difficult to develop.

Therefore Wu Sangui and his staff had worked the abacus beads for quite a while, only to find an annual income of a little over one million.

The careworn Wu Sangui followed the eunuch guide, wandering through East Lake Palace for quite a while, before finally stopping in front of a residence with an imposing air.

The inner attendant guiding him was a very burly eunuch, evidently a "hardship eunuch" from the Purified Army, wearing the python robe of a high eunuch. He had led Wu Sangui all the way with his lips curled in an arrogant, overbearing manner. But when he turned back to speak to Wu Sangui, he smiled like a flower: "My Lord Duke, this is the Yongning Palace where Her Majesty the Empress resides."

So today he was going to see his sister!

Wu Sangui relaxed a little, then surveyed the palace gate before him. It could not be called grand, but it was extremely refined, somewhat like the garden of a great and powerful family — this Hongxing Son of Heaven did not seem to care much for displaying imperial majesty!

There were guards on duty at the gate of Yongning Palace. When they saw Wu Sangui arrive, one of them ran inside to announce him. Before long, a summoning voice came out: "Summon the Grand General Who Pacifies the West, Military Governor of the Pacifying West Army, Duke of Liang, to audience!"

Wu Sangui straightened his collar and stepped into Yongning Palace, then followed the high eunuch all the way to a hall with quite good lighting. The hall was not large, about the size of a reception hall in a powerful family's residence. But it was built very high, with windows on all sides. The weather was not yet cold, so they were all open to let the sunlight in.

Zhu Cilang and Wu Sanmei were seated in the hall. The Zhu Emperor sat behind a desk, with Wu Sanmei seated beside him. Some papers were spread out on the desk — who knew what they were? When Wu Sangui entered, Zhu Cilang and Wu Sanmei were both looking at them.

"Changbo, no need to kneel. Come over quickly."

"Second Brother, come and look."

Zhu Cilang and Wu Sanmei showed not the slightest airs, warmly beckoning Wu Sangui over to look at something.

Wu Sangui did not stand on ceremony either. He strode up and leaned over the desk, only then discovering that the desk was covered with many printed sheets that looked like treasure notes.

"These are Pacifying West feudatory bonds. Changbo, what do you think of the printing?"

Bond certificates for feudatory debt!

Wu Sangui sighed inwardly.

Zhu Cilang continued: "They are all 100-tael denominations, with a coupon of 6 taels per year, transferable. Every one must bear the seal of the Maritime Merchant Bank or the Salt Merchant Bank. The bondholders are also registered by name, and in theory transactions and transfers can only be completed within the branches of the two banks. Changbo, what do you think? Are you satisfied?"

Satisfied with what? Wu Sangui was not satisfied at all!

Because no matter how he calculated, he could never repay these devil's debts!

"Your Majesty, this subject fears he cannot even pay the interest on the feudatory bonds. Perhaps Your Majesty should find someone more capable."

As soon as Wu Sangui opened his mouth, he made Zhu Cilang laugh. This was the man who, in history, had raised troops in rebellion because the Kangxi Emperor cut his feudatory!

And now he was being driven to resign by a few million taels of feudatory debt — wasn't that change a bit too drastic?

"Fiscal deficits are normal," Zhu Cilang said with a smile and a wave of his hand. "If the court took over directly, the deficit would only be larger. Now, with each garrison governing itself and striving to maintain itself, the shortfall can still be kept to a minimum. Changbo, you need not have any misgivings. Just go ahead and do it — the court supports you!

The Pacifying West Army you may control for life, and the post of Military Governor can also be passed on to Yingxiong!"

It even had to be passed on to Wu Yingxiong! Wu Sangui thought: when will this feudatory ever be abolished?

Zhu Cilang continued: "Changbo, the matter of the Pacifying West Military Governorship becoming hereditary — you must not leak it, or the bond certificates will not sell. The Salt Merchant Bank and the Maritime Merchant Bank have already drawn up the plan. The new issue of bonds about to be released will total 3 million taels in face value, with annual interest at most one-tenth of face value. They will be issued not only in Hankou, but also in Nanjing, Shanghai, Quanzhou, and Guangzhou.

To ensure this issue goes smoothly, we must make people believe the Pacifying West feudatory will certainly be abolished in three or four years. So the court will shortly set up a nominal Shaanxi Governor's yamen, and also establish a Governor-General's office for Sichuan-Shaanxi military affairs. Wang Yongji will be appointed Shaanxi Governor, and the Governor-General of Sichuan-Shaanxi will be yours! When the time comes, the court will also issue a subsidy in silver to the Pacifying West and Northern Frontier garrisons in the name of using troops in Sichuan. With this news, the first issue of old bonds will certainly rise, and the new bonds will be easy to sell."

(End of Chapter)