Chapter 229

Viceroy's office.

"Commander Li, will our forceful pressure backfire?"

Marquis Wuyang asked uneasily.

Forceful pressure to push forward is most likely to trigger a backlash.

Although he currently holds heavy troops, there is still the threat of the rebel army outside.

If internal problems occur, it is easy for the enemy to take advantage of the situation.

"My Lord, set your heart at ease!

Being able to kill one's way out of officialdom and be promoted all the way to the position of Provincial Governor, one's inner endurance is absolutely not weak.

Currently, the three Provincial Governors are all watching, and they just need someone to take the lead in breaking the deadlock.

Asking them to directly take action against the powerful clans and great families, perhaps Provincial Governor An doesn't have the guts and might really hang up his seal and leave.

Now it is only necessary to knock on the merchants who rely on the powerful clans and great families and let them contribute a sum of military funds.

A temporary additional levy is not a permanent tax and has not touched the core interests of the gentry group.

If Provincial Governor An is smart, he will pick a few unlucky ones to kill the chicken to warn the monkeys, and then directly persuade donations later.

Everyone is in the same circle; Provincial Governor An is more familiar with the internal rules of the gentry than we are and knows how to grasp the degree.

The reason he hasn't taken action for a long time is nothing more than caring about his reputation. He wants to lure you to take the field yourself and be the scapegoat for him."

Li Mu applied eye drops without changing his expression.

As a dog-headed military advisor, he had a comprehensive plan from the beginning of the plan.

Choosing to pressure An Qingfeng is mainly because he is the weakest unlucky one among the three Provincial Governors.

He has neither money nor grain in his hands, nor does he have direct armed forces, and even the bureaucratic system hasn't had time to integrate.

Once in a direct confrontation, Marquis Wuyang can easily crush this bare-handed Provincial Governor. Taking him as a breakthrough is undoubtedly the best choice.

To raise military funds, it is impossible not to offend people.

As the Viceroy, once Marquis Wuyang takes the field, there is no room for maneuver. If the people below operate and cause trouble, he can also come out to clean up the mess in the capacity of an arbitrator.

Against this background, the job of attracting hatred fell on the three Provincial Governors.

Theoretically, they can continue to pressure those below. However, the weight of mid-to-lower-level officials is limited and can only deter some ordinary gentry.

Those who can be called powerful clans and great families have Juren and Jinshi appearing in clusters. Unless there are special circumstances, there have always been people in the clan serving as officials of Rank Three or above in the court.

Not to mention that students and former subordinates are all over the court, at the very least, there are a lot of various relationships in the locality.

Even if many interpersonal relationships were lost in the war, the power of these scholar families still cannot be underestimated.

To levy taxes on them, one cannot do it without some means.

Fortunately, the White Lotus Sect did a beautiful job earlier, not only grabbing the property they left behind but also staining their hands with the blood of the gentry.

On one side is the rebel army that wants their lives, and on the other is the imperial court reaching out for money; this multiple-choice question is easy to do.

The current game is nothing more than a question of how much price each party needs to pay and how much profit they can obtain.

"Those merchants are the most cunning and transferred their property out early.

Even if the people are back now, the silver they carry is not much.

Even if we raid their homes and wipe out their clans, I'm afraid we won't be able to squeeze out much fat.

Killing the chicken to warn the monkeys at this time might just scare people away!"

Marquis Wuyang said with a frown.

If raiding homes could solve the problem, he wouldn't hesitate at all and would have ordered it long ago.

Without sufficient preparation beforehand, directly going to raid homes, it is difficult to have much harvest.

Emperor Yongning's previous investigation and confiscation of the Eunuch Party is the best example. Many people were arrested, but the stolen money seized was not much.

If it weren't for political correctness and purely anti-corruption, just based on the property seized, they wouldn't be able to convict them.

Theoretically, relying on torture, there is a high probability of being able to scrape out these hidden wealth.

But their status is that of imperial officials, not rebel armies starting from scratch, so they must follow the rules in doing things.

"My Lord, no matter how they transfer wealth, as long as the money is on the land of Great Dayu, it can be found.

It is an open secret that merchants in the Liangguang region fled to Fujian, Zhejiang, and other places to avoid the war.

If Provincial Governor An is really willing to take ruthless action, he can completely send troops to these places and invite those merchants who don't give him face back.

The news that the court intends to lift the maritime ban has been circulating for so long that I guess those maritime merchants have long been scared to death.

Changing the plan at this time and selling exit permits, as long as the quantity is limited, I guess they can accept it.

For the sake of monopoly profits, paying a little money, I think it shouldn't be a big problem.

To deal with other major merchant groups, one can also follow the same pattern and use similar methods to move them with emotion and explain with reason.

The real trouble is the additional land tax.

It seems to be levied on the owners of the land, but local officials are unwilling to offend the gentry, and the taxes added by the court are very likely to be shifted to tenants, self-cultivating farmers, and even small and medium landlords.

By the time the White Lotus Sect rebellion is suppressed, I don't know how many self-cultivating farmer families will go bankrupt. Land annexation within the three provinces is very likely to enter a new height.

If this continues for a long time, there will be big problems sooner or later."

Li Mu then explained.

Frankly speaking, the current fundraising method is not what he wants.

Adding apportionments for money and grain can at most temporarily raise a sum of funds. For the court's current fiscal predicament, it is purely treating the symptoms but not the root cause.

But there is no way; reform is truly too difficult.

Looking at the entire history, there are very few who succeeded in reform.

Neither Marquis Wuyang nor Li Mu has the guts to carry out reform at this time.

Making small-scale fine-tuning to the existing system can already be considered as being brave in taking responsibility.

Once the tax system is deeply reformed, it will inevitably be countered by the vested interest group.

Emperor Yongning doesn't look like he can carry things; if the matter is really blown up, whoever pushes for reform will be the scapegoat.

"Forget it!

There is nothing perfect in the world; to do things, one must pay a price.

For the sake of the great cause of suppressing the rebellion, let them suffer a bit first."

Marquis Wuyang said with some difficulty.

Combating land annexation has always been the most important national policy of successive dynasties.

Usually, it is executed well in the early stages of a dynasty; once it enters the mid-to-late stage, land annexation will become a social norm, constantly devouring the empire's wealth.

Both Li Mu and Marquis Wuyang have large amounts of land under their names.

It seems they were all bought, but if it weren't for being forced to, no one would do such a family-ruining thing as selling land.

The land annexation of powerful clans and great families is basically the same.

Those who take by force are all fools; truly effective land annexation is planned in secret, using natural and man-made disasters to make self-cultivating farmers go bankrupt and owe huge debts.

Finally, for the sake of survival, self-cultivating farmers can only beg to sell their land.

Generally speaking, by the time things have developed to this point, even if they sell the land, they still can't pay off the previous debts.

At this time, just buy it at a reasonable price, and then generously indicate: the land can be rented to them to continue farming, and the debts owed can be paid off slowly, and you can immediately harvest the gratitude of the self-cultivating farmers.

Once it spreads, anyone will have to say that Master So-and-so is benevolent and righteous.

Eat it clean, and still leave behind a good reputation.

In fact, such means can only be considered average in land annexation.

If you want to accelerate the pace of annexation, just pick a few fools and agitate them to take by force and attract hatred.

Once the matter blows up, the pig is almost fattened. At that time, under the banner of asking for the people, slaughter the pig and divide the meat.

The powerful clans and great families get the benefits, and the officials presiding over the work harvest the title of "Blue Sky Great Master," which is a solid win-win.

After hesitating for a moment, Li Mu finally chose to shut up.

The longer one mixes in officialdom, the more one understands the darkness of this world.

Neither he nor Marquis Wuyang has the ability to change the world.

Unless a land revolution is launched, and after redistributing the land, private land trading is completely prohibited, otherwise annexation is a matter of time.

Since the outcome is destined, why say meaningless nonsense to attract hatred!

Jiujiang Prefecture.

As the "mouth of the three rivers, the thoroughfare of seven provinces," every time the world is in chaos, Jiujiang has to suffer the bitterness of war.

"Why did the artillery stop?

Didn't you see the enemy army is attacking? Counterattack quickly!"

The middle-aged general reprimanded angrily.

The enemy's offensive was fierce, and the long-disrepaired city walls already had multiple breaches, all relying on the defenders to fill them with their lives.

At this critical moment of the battle between the two sides, their own artillery suddenly went silent, which was truly damaging to morale.

"Assistant Regional Commander, the gun barrels are already red; continuing to shell is too dangerous.

Just now, another artillery piece exploded, causing three deaths and six injuries. If we continue to shell, the artillerymen will be killed by their own artillery!"

The artillery Battalion Commander who rushed over upon hearing the news hurriedly explained.

In order to hold Jiujiang City, the imperial court urgently transferred a large number of artillery pieces for support. Unfortunately, these artillery pieces were either old antiques older than them or inferior goods cut from corners.

Dragging them to the city wall, problems occurred frequently. While killing the enemy army, one after another various accidents also brought heavy casualties to their own people.

So much so that the artillerymen in the city became a high-risk branch. The casualty rate of the soldiers was higher than that of the infantry.

"Trash!"

After a curse, Assistant Regional Commander Zheng helplessly accepted reality.

Without artillery support, the subsequent city defense battle will become increasingly difficult.

"Guards, immediately send people to ask the Provincial Governor for help, tell him Jiujiang City has reached the most dangerous moment, and we need reinforcements!"

Thinking about it is suffocating; clearly the imperial court ordered the armies of Zhejiang, Nanzhili, and Shandong to reinforce Jiujiang, but these armies were all dawdling on the road.

Everyone was thinking of waiting for the Beijing Camp to come over and act together after completing the rendezvous.

In this way, the imperial army of Jiangxi was pitted. Reinforcements didn't come for a long time, and they could only face the rebel army's attack alone.

Jiangxi is wealthy, and the Provincial Governor's office has money, but that doesn't mean the army's combat effectiveness is strong.

Usually, in places where literary style is flourishing, military force is inevitably weakened, not to mention the Great Dayu Dynasty, which governs the military with literature.

Even the guard commanders took pride in reading and imperial examinations. Only because they couldn't pass the Jinshi examination would they choose to inherit the hereditary official position.

Against this background, the Jiangnan region has many more "Confucian generals." Consequently, the army's combat effectiveness is also ranked at the bottom of the Great Dayu Dynasty.

In order to keep Jiujiang Prefecture, Jiangxi has already used all its strength, but the result is still not optimistic.

(End of chapter)