Chapter 225: Lijin (Transit Tax)

Early the next morning, the first ray of sunlight sprinkled on the earth, announcing the end of the Battle of Guangzhou.

The main master arrived at the front line, and the remaining rebel army in the city also lost the value of continued existence and was soon annihilated by the imperial army.

A beautiful battle report appeared in the Marquis of Wuyang's hands.

12,000 rebels beheaded, 23,000 rebels captured, and one city recovered.

As for the specific combat process, it was naturally brushed over.

This was the experience Li Mu had accumulated; if one wanted to highlight one's importance, one didn't necessarily have to deliberately emphasize one's merit, but the battle report must be mysterious enough.

Anyway, the battle results were in front of them, and victory was victory. If the outside world didn't understand, it was because their own level was not enough.

Mixing in the officialdom, few people were willing to admit that their ability was not good. If they didn't understand how to win, they would just brag and finish it.

If the battle process was described too straightforwardly, it would probably make people have the thought of "I can do it too."

For Li Mu, who wanted to control the right to speak in the war, he had to pretend to be forced to fool the civil officials so that he could prevent these guys from adding chaos.

"Chu Er, Cheng Jiliang, the merit you two made in capturing the city has already been told to me by Commander Li.

Well done!

The court has never been stingy with rewards for loyal and righteous people.

Now appoint Chu Er as a Mobile Corps Commander, and appoint Cheng Jiliang as the Assistant Prefect of Guangzhou, hoping that you two will continue to make persistent efforts and continue to... for the court."

The rewards were very generous, and Chu Er and Cheng Jiliang became the brightest cubs.

The Great Dayu's official positions were not easy to get; no matter how great the merit of the surrendered generals, they were basically granted virtual positions and sent away.

Under normal circumstances, such personnel appointments could not be passed at all.

This scene in front of him was clearly done for the outside world to see, intending to "buy bones with a thousand gold."

With the loss of Wuchang Prefecture, no one dared to underestimate the rebel army anymore, and the officials' attitude toward the rebel army also underwent subtle changes.

Realizing that blind slaughter could not solve the problem, Li Mu took the opportunity to propose political inducement and surrender for the high-level rebel army.

Chu Er and Cheng Jiliang were just a beginning; next, the court would recruit more rebel generals, hoping to disintegrate the rebel army's fighting spirit by political means.

"Thank you, Marquis, for your kindness!

Thank you..."

Chu Er and Cheng Jiliang said excitedly.

Undoubtedly, such an appointment was beyond expectations.

Except for the early years of the founding of the country, subsequent surrendered generals were rarely granted fourth-rank official positions directly.

"You two go down!"

The Marquis of Wuyang waved his hand and said.

Being able to come forward to perform was looking at Li Mu's face. Two small characters were not worth his, the Governor's, trouble.

No matter how great the merit was, it was useless; saying "no blame for the past" was one thing, but a stain was a stain.

No matter what, they could not be regarded as their own people. Entering the court sequence, it was impossible to focus on training.

For the parties involved, this was also a good thing. Surrendered generals needed to be low-key; if they were promoted and reused all the way, they wouldn't even have a chance to end well.

Civil officials were best at settling accounts after the autumn; even the orthodox military generals of the court were suppressed, let alone these surrendered generals.

Announcing to the outside world that the two were loyal and righteous people lurking inside the rebel army—but such ghost words could only serve as psychological comfort for the parties involved, and the officials in the court would not believe it at all.

The series of broken things the two did after joining the rebel army couldn't be put on the table.

A series of rewards for merit ended, and the Marquis of Wuyang completed the finishing work of the first great merit after taking office.

The celebration banquet began, but the officials in the room no longer had smiles on their faces.

"Zhu Jingyi, that bastard died cleanly, but the situation in Huguang collapsed.

After the fall of Wuchang, the rebel army's next plan is either to attack Jiangnan or march north to the Central Plains.

Once the great war breaks out, the court's finances will further deteriorate. By then, I'm afraid they will be powerless to support us, and the three provinces should raise military expenses themselves to share the worries for the court.

Colleagues, do you have any countermeasures?"

The Marquis of Wuyang asked with concern.

As early as before taking office, the cabinet clearly stated that they hoped he could raise military expenses in the three provinces to reduce the court's burden as much as possible.

It wasn't shirking responsibility, but the court really had no money.

War is a double-edged sword; the economy in the Liangguang region was severely damaged, but the rebel army also helped clean up the tumors in the local area.

The power of the gentry group in the local area was severely weakened. Many hidden lands and mineral deposits gradually surfaced.

Taking the Guangxi region as an example, before the war, the court's registered land was about 10 million mu, of which military fields accounted for one-third.

After the war, the military control system was adopted, and without the obstruction of the gentry and local chieftains, the number of re-checked fields climbed directly to more than 32 million mu.

Even if Li Mu took the opportunity to expand the area of military fields, the amount of civilian fields that could provide tax revenue for the court was still nearly 20 million mu.

The situation in Guangdong had no data support for the time being, but he thought the situation was about the same.

Theoretically, only if local production could be restored, the income from land tax could increase by two times.

The actual increase would be more; after all, the number of gentry enjoying tax exemption was now mostly reduced.

If these taxes could all be collected, Guangxi, which had always needed court subsidies, could achieve fiscal self-sufficiency.

Guangdong, which was already rich, and Fujian, which was less affected by the war, had more places to dig.

Gathering the power of the three provinces of Liangguang and Fujian to support the rebellion suppression army was theoretically completely feasible.

As the Governor of the three provinces, besides annihilating the rebellion, the Marquis of Wuyang also shouldered the heavy responsibility of solving the fiscal predicament for the court.

"Marquis, the court's fiscal difficulties mean that raising military expenses by oneself is a matter of course.

It's just that restoring production takes time, and Guangxi has just suffered from war, so I'm afraid it's impossible to collect tax revenue from the people in a short time."

Zhang Sihan immediately complained.

Currently, the garrison with the best production recovery is Li Mu, who holds a large number of free laborers, and has disguisedly become the largest landlord in the Guangxi region.

In other areas, the population has dropped sharply, labor is severely insufficient, and a large amount of land has been abandoned.

Trapped by finances, local administrative agencies have not yet recovered. Wanting to collect tax revenue, the difficulty is extremely high.

The newly added land is just an expansion of the tax base, which does not mean that tax revenue can increase immediately.

Agricultural tax collection can't be done, and there is no hope for other aspects. All the mineral deposits in the province were packaged and leased out; at the time, it looked like a blood profit, but now it looks like a blood loss.

How much profit there is, he doesn't know, anyway Zhang Sihan knows that Li Mu made a profit of hundreds of thousands of taels of silver in one turn.

If it weren't for this money being used by Li Mu to fill the gap in military expenses, the civil officials would have long ago made a mess.

Commercial tax collection is even more unnecessary to say; with the Great Dayu's pitiful tax rate, collecting commercial tax is purely thankless.

"If there is difficulty, then think of a way.

Now is a special period, we can take special means. When collecting taxes, we cannot do it in the past way.

Huguang has a reference value; in order to prepare for the Tuanlian, they not only persuaded the gentry to donate but also opened the collection of Lijin (transit tax), we can also imitate it!

The situation in Liangguang is special, so forget about persuasion, but Lijin must be collected.

According to the fertility of the land, add ten to fifty wen per mu, and the gentry cannot enjoy the privilege of exemption.

Tea and wine, these profiteering industries, are all collected at 20% of the price. If it cannot be estimated, then collect in-kind tax.

Now is a special period, and the sea ban can also be slightly relaxed. As long as 30% of the tax is paid, merchants are allowed to go to sea.

Of course, what I said is just an example. You are responsible for formulating the specific collection rules.

Time must be fast; I have a premonition that the rebel army is about to have a big move, and I'm afraid the Jiangnan region is dangerous!"

The Marquis of Wuyang said with a solemn expression.

Taking office and making things happen is not what he wants. But the army below is waiting to be fed, and the court's allocation is simply not enough.

Yesterday, when gathering old subordinates to discuss, they explored this idea.

Touching the cake of the interest group is unavoidable. But at this moment, the gentry group in Liangguang has suffered heavy losses and has no ability to stop the court from collecting taxes.

The base camp of the gentry group is currently facing the threat of the rebel army. The White Lotus Sect's butcher knife doesn't distinguish between Jinshi and Juren; having money and grain is the target of their home-raiding.

Against this background, if they don't increase commercial taxes, their own old nest will be wiped out by the rebel army.

The civil officials representing the interests of the gentry group have internal divisions in their positions. At this time, proposing a temporary increase in tax collection, the resistance is not so intense.

As for the Huguang Tuanlian collecting Lijin, that is just an excuse. After all, things like increasing taxes that are easy to be scolded, no one wants to be the first bird.

There are so many civilian Tuanlian, and there are not one or two who apportion expenses to the lower levels, it's just that the collection objects are different.

Blaming them is not wrong.

In the future, if they want to turn over old accounts, the parties involved will be almost dead, and they won't have a chance to argue about the difference.

"Governor, this matter is of great importance; if it gets out, it will cause a big mess!"

The Governor of Fujian hurriedly persuaded.

The Liangguang region can be tossed around at will; the power of the local gentry has been severely damaged, and those who survived are also wearing mourning clothes.

Officials serving in the court are either back to observe mourning or on the way to apply for mourning.

In a short period of time, they have lost their right to speak in the court.

Officialdom struggle is cruel; the positions vacated after they leave will naturally be filled by others.

After the mourning period ends, even if they can return to the court, there won't be so many positions for them.

This means that most officials in the Liangguang region will be out of the power center in the future.

Against this background, keeping a low profile has become the best choice.

Not to mention that everyone is in the mourning period, and according to the etiquette, they cannot go out to connect. Even if they are dissatisfied in their hearts, they can only hold it back first.

Now all the recovered areas are under military control. Inciting the people to make trouble at this time is giving the imperial army battle merit.

If investigated, a hat of "colluding with rebels" will be thrown over, and in an instant, it will be a disaster of home-raiding and clan-extermination.

But the Fujian region is different.

The rebel army didn't kill there, and the power of the local gentry wasn't weakened. Not feeling the pain of the cut, everyone is still calculating their own interests.

"Don't tell me these things; the court raising you is to do things.

A county magistrate who ruins a family, a prefect who exterminates a clan.

Could it be that the folk rumors are all fake?

Whether it can't be done or doesn't want to be done, you know it in your hearts.

How to do it specifically, I don't have the energy to ask, in short, each province must raise enough money and grain.

You can also choose not to do it; anyway, if the task is not completed and the court holds you accountable, it is your own heads that will fall.

According to the respective situations of the three provinces, I am now assigning the fundraising tasks for this year:

Guangxi Province is poor, responsible for raising 800,000 taels of silver, 1.2 million shi of grain, 500 shi of sugar...

Guangdong Province has not been fully recovered, so I won't let you produce grain, just raise 1.8 million taels of silver.

Fujian's task is the heaviest; you need to raise 1.5 million taels of silver, 2 million shi of grain, 30,000 shi...

These numbers are all calculated by me. Now you three provinces can intercept local tax revenue; although it is difficult to complete the task, it is not impossible."

The Marquis of Wuyang said disdainfully.

Not wanting to bear responsibility and trying to push the responsibility onto him is simply a dream.

Being brave in taking responsibility is what the civil officials claim themselves. He is an in-law, so there is no need to comply.

If the problem cannot be solved, then directly apportion the task to the lower levels.

If enough money and grain cannot be raised, then hold the officials in charge accountable and use their family property to fill the deficit.

As an in-law, doing things is so rough, without technical content.

"Marquis, Guangdong is affected by the war, and there is a severe lack of officials. Only Qiongzhou Prefecture has a complete establishment.

Even if I want to collect taxes, there is no one to implement it!"

Guangdong Governor An Qingfeng complained immediately.

Guangxi and Fujian Governors are worried, they can still apportion tasks to local yamen. He, this miserable Governor, doesn't even have enough subordinates, so he can't even press tasks down.

"The Great Dayu lacks everything, but it doesn't lack people who want to be officials.

There are so many officials who have returned to observe mourning from the court; you personally visit them and ask them to contribute to their hometown, it shouldn't be difficult, right?

The situation is so dangerous now; if the Jiangnan region rots, Liangguang and Fujian cannot be alone.

Don't forget that they are in the mourning period now; if the rebel army kills them, they won't even have a place to run!"

The Marquis of Wuyang said coldly.

Destined to be a villain, he simply didn't bother to restrain himself. As an in-law, having a bad reputation wasn't a bad thing.

Anyway, what he said was the truth; in the Great Dayu where Confucian culture prevailed, all scholars worshipped "pure filial piety."

Running away during the mourning period would ruin one's reputation. Not to mention continuing to be an official, one wouldn't even be able to mix in the gentry circle.

In essence, this was a disguised threat. It was almost explicitly telling everyone that if enough funds couldn't be raised, the rebel army would kill them.

"The food is almost cold, let's talk while eating.

The fundraising problem is actually not too big.

Guangdong and Fujian have superior geographical locations and developed folk economy.

It's just that the court's sea ban affected tax revenue in the past, otherwise, this item alone could complete more than half of the fundraising task.

According to what I know, a ship of silk and tea transported to Japan or Nanyang can increase the price by several times.

Even in Guangxi, there is a trade route to the Indochina Peninsula."

Seeing the tense atmosphere in the room, Li Mu smiled and smoothed things over.

Sticking to agricultural tax, it is naturally difficult to complete the fundraising task. But if the target is aimed at maritime trade, the gap is not that big.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 226 =====