Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 442 The Start of the Southern Strategy

Giving up Liaodong, where the Beijing army had been stationed for many years, was certainly not free. The Prince of Dongping came with conditions.

Materials worth five million silver dollars each year, as well as commercial tax exemption for the Nurgan Regional Administration.

In Liaodong, there was no place to spend money, and asking for money was the most meaningless thing. When Prince Dongping asked for supplies, he was naturally asking for a huge amount of money.

At the cabinet meeting, when the two conditions were put forward, no one in the entire cabinet agreed, nor did they dare to agree.

Five million silver dollars a year, even if it's for supplies, if they manipulate the price, it would be at least three and a half million a year, right? And there's also a commercial tax exemption policy?
"We hope to resolve the Liaodong issue peacefully, but we will never agree to it if someone takes advantage of our hopes and asks for an exorbitant price," said Ning Ke, the Minister of Revenue, in an impassioned speech.

"Strength, strength is the decisive factor. With three million silver dollars per year, or even two million instead of three million, the size of the Beijing camp can be expanded to 200,000 people. With two hundred thousand well-trained and well-equipped troops, do we still need to pay three million per year to buy peace?" Guo Yan also knocked on the table excitedly to express his "indignation". [MD, after the Prince of Dongping came to Beijing, he visited many old friends and gave away many gifts, but he did not consider the feelings of the ministers in the cabinet. ]

As a small shrimp, it was very scary to be able to attend the meeting. Jia Lian was indeed playing the role of a background board shivering in the corner, making the image of the big bosses even taller.

"Puchi", today's performance would have been perfect if Jia Lian hadn't laughed out loud with his head down when Guo Yan was speaking.

This smile didn't matter, the solemn atmosphere at the scene was diluted!
Zhang Tingen glared at Jia Lian in dissatisfaction, but did not intend to call his name to ask him to come out and speak.

“If you happen again, I will never let you off easily!” As expected, he was his closest student. The Prime Minister lifted him up high and then put him down gently.

Emperor Chenghui was not going to let Jia Lian go, and coughed: "It is better to share happiness with others than to enjoy it alone. Why are you so happy, Jia Qing?"

Jia Lian stood up helplessly and said, "Your Majesty, I just did some calculations. Under normal circumstances, the salary of soldiers in the Beijing camp is ten yuan per month, but they actually get seven yuan. After deducting the cost of food, clothes, shoes and hats, there is about three yuan left. With this amount of money, I dare not order more meat or vegetables when I go out for a meal. I can only go to a roadside stall and eat some offal. He is still a bachelor!"

Well, Jia Lian definitely didn’t mean it, and he wasn’t targeting the two previous cabinet ministers. He just said the wrong thing by accident.

But what can I say? To be honest, this thing is too hurtful. There is a saying in this era: good men don't serve in the army, and good iron is not used to make nails.

Why? For an ordinary soldier, the consequence may be that he will be single for life!
The faces of the cabinet officials were not good. Emperor Chenghui looked at Jia Lian seriously and said, "Mr. Jia, can you take responsibility for what you said?"

Jia Lian folded his hands with a wry smile: "Your Majesty, everyone knows about this."

Emperor Chenghui knew that the reason was the so-called bad habit. It was a bad habit left over from generals leading the troops. In the process of reforming the military system, the most important issue of the treatment of grassroots soldiers was missed.

"This is my fault!" Emperor Chenghui's words were like a blast. The ministers in the cabinet could no longer sit still and stood up one after another: "We are guilty!"

Emperor Chenghui had no intention of holding the officials accountable this time, but took the responsibility: "It has nothing to do with you! I have been standing on a high position for too long and I cannot see the difficulties faced by the people."

In any case, the cabinet officials did not dare to let the emperor take the blame for this matter. Zhang Ting'en said: "I suggest that the Inspectorate be stationed in the Beijing Camp to investigate the treatment of the grassroots."

Emperor Chenghui said, "Forget it. I will use the treasury to increase the salary of the grassroots soldiers by five yuan per month. The Inspectorate will be responsible for supervision and make sure that the five yuan reaches every soldier. If any bullying or robbery occurs, the Inspectorate must deal with it severely and will not tolerate it."

Soldiers in this era really just serve as soldiers to eat food! How can they fight hard if they don’t even have enough food to eat?

"Your Majesty is wise!" Zhang Tingen did not insist. He was just talking just now and he knew that Emperor Chenghui would not pursue it too much.

The matter is actually very simple. Funds are allocated, and the burden is borne by the grassroots soldiers. According to the military discipline of the Great Zhou Dynasty, one person is enough to serve as a soldier. Food, clothing, housing, transportation, weapons for fighting, and monthly salary are all taken care of by the court. However, the reality is quite different. The result depends entirely on the conscience of the officer. Soldiers with better conscience can get four yuan, and those with worse conscience can get two yuan.

That's not even counting the empty salaries. If you insist on focusing on the officers who lead the troops, that's not fair either, because there's a problem at the source. When the funds come out of the Ministry of Revenue, they're 20% to 30% less, and when they're distributed by the Ministry of War, they're 10% to 20% less. What can the officers who directly lead the troops do? They can only fiddle with the numbers, and that's if they're not too greedy. If they're a little greedy, they'll charge for the soldiers' food and clothing.

So, now everyone knows why Jia Lian laughed, because it is easy to calculate. According to the calculation of 10 yuan per person per month, 200,000 people would be 2 million yuan, and this is just the cost of military pay. Not counting weapons and ammunition, there are also the costs of various livestock. 3 million yuan, according to the current price, is probably not enough to purchase equipment for 200,000 people, not to mention raising 200,000 soldiers.

Therefore, the more passionate Guo Yan's words were, the more laughable they were.

"Let's get back to the topic! Jia Lian, please continue to talk about how to deal with the request of King Dongping!" Emperor Chenghui was a little dissatisfied with the empty talk of the cabinet officials. They had no practical stuff that could solve the problem!

"Give it, why not? Isn't it just five million? If you want materials, just give them, and give them directly to finished products, not raw materials and technology, let alone craftsmen. But the time limit must be five years at most. But commercial taxes cannot be exempted. If you ask for population, it cannot be given either. The former site of Nurgandusi is vast and sparsely populated. If there is no population, they can just move to neighboring Korea and Japan. The domestic population, even exiled criminals, should be sent to the Western Regions or Southeast Asia."

Jia Lian must take a shot of vaccination in advance. The situation is one thing within the Confucian cultural circle, and it is another thing outside this circle. Whether it is the Western Regions or Southeast Asia, the necessity of immigration is far greater than that of the Far East. There is really no shortage of resources in the Far East. As long as you are willing to work, it is too easy to feed the population. The disadvantage is that the natural environment is too harsh.

In contrast, in today's era, it is almost impossible to maintain stable rule in Southeast Asia and the Western Regions without a Chinese population as a base.

There are many issues involved here, and they are very sensitive, so I won’t go into details to avoid 404 errors.
As for the Nurgan Dusi, the biggest benefit of giving materials is that it can boost the economy. Both sides can also collect taxes on trade, and the actual cost is not that great. As long as they can ensure stability for 20 years, with the economic and cultural advantages, the Nurgan Dusi will not rebel within one or two hundred years. Because there is no need and no possibility.

"I have finished speaking!" Jia Lian folded his hands, asked to sit down, and continued to remain invisible.

Emperor Chenghui nodded with satisfaction and looked around at the gentlemen. Does anyone have any objection?

Zhang Ting'en knew that the emperor was very satisfied, so he immediately stood up and agreed, "I have no objection!"

Ning Ke and Guo Yan looked a little unhappy. As Lin Ruhai and Pan Jixun stood up to agree, they also stood up to agree.

"In this case, the cabinet will talk to the Prince of Dongping according to this tone. It doesn't matter if we suffer a little loss." Emperor Chenghui was very anxious about the stability of the border.

As his external vision expanded, Emperor Chenghui's eyes were always on the south. This was also the reason why he tolerated Wang Ziteng.

As long as Wang Ziteng takes the lead in opening up the situation, the contradiction between people and land in coastal areas will surely be alleviated to a certain extent. Emperor Chenghui, who has been reading materials every day recently, has truly felt the huge benefits from the ocean.

Especially after the clause of binding copper ingots into foreign trade, the ballast cargo of overseas merchant ships coming to China became copper ingots, which greatly alleviated the domestic demand for copper.

This phenomenon undoubtedly clearly conveys a signal that many materials that seem to be in short supply in the Great Zhou have never been rare overseas.

Emperor Chenghui is not Qianlong, and he does not think that the Great Zhou has everything. There are so many good things overseas, why not take them for yourself?
In the southward strategy, the prospect described by Jia Lian can greatly alleviate the domestic population pressure while expanding the territory. Why not do it?

Perhaps the Prince of Dongping did not expect that the court would be so straightforward. As long as the Prince of Dongping was willing to go to the old site of Nurgandusi, re-establish institutions and rebuild order, the court was willing to provide 500 yuan of materials every year. It was a bit unexpected that the commercial tax exemption was not negotiated. I thought that tax exemption was easy to negotiate, but materials were difficult to get. Unexpectedly, it was the other way around.

The Prince of Dongping took the opportunity to raise new demands, including population, craftsmen, etc., but all subsequent demands were rejected. The cabinet stated that the court had no obligation in this regard.

Later on, Emperor Chenghui was quite generous and said that he could confer the title of Prince on Prince Mu, and other than that, there was no other concession.

The Prince of Dongping looked at the result of the negotiation with mixed feelings. Having stayed in Liaodong for several years, he certainly knew what the situation was like there. As long as the trade route was open, it would not be difficult to gain huge profits from trade given the popularity of goods outside the Great Wall. But there was a problem. What was most lacking outside the Great Wall was the ability to generate revenue, especially military material revenue.

We can't let the soldiers fight with bows and arrows now, can we?
The Prince of Dongping said that he had no say on the outcome and would send someone back for instructions. The cabinet did not force him to sign and said that they had enough patience and could wait.

The King of Dongping still showed the wisdom of a politician and put forward a new requirement, which was to ensure the purchase of a certain amount of military supplies every year.

The cabinet quickly agreed to this request, and thus an imperial decree was issued that the Prince of Dongping was ordered by the court to lead his troops to relocate to the former site of the Nurgan Regional Military Commission.

After the negotiations with the King of Dongping came to an end, envoys from the Khorchin tribe also came to Beijing and demanded the same treatment as the Chahar tribe.

This time their request was not so smooth. When guiding the negotiations, the cabinet raised the core issue of defining the legal status of the Khorchin tribe.

According to the enthronement of various tribes on the grassland during the reigns of Taizu and the retired emperor, the Chahar tribe was a prince and the Khorchin was a duke. Why should you, the Khorchin, be treated the same as the Chahar?
Requesting re-canonization? Why? Is it because you are so shameless?

In the past, the envoys would probably want to show off that the Khorchin tribe had 300,000 soldiers.

This 300,000 is still a bit exaggerated even if you cut it in half. Let's put it this way, in the harsh environment of the grassland, the total number of males under the age of 50 and over the age of 13 is only 150,000, which is very exaggerated.

If a real war breaks out, the Khorchin tribe can only mobilize 50,000 to 60,000 troops at most, regardless of future development.

The question is, these 50,000 to 60,000 cavalrymen were very threatening in the past, but now, have they asked the Shenji Camp?

Both sides insisted on their own ideas and the negotiations came to a temporary stalemate. Anyway, the court was not in a hurry.

And now the court's focus is on Sichuan and Guangdong and Guangxi.

In Sichuan, the battle of Jinchuan and Xiaojinchuan had reached its final moments.

The four armies in the southeast, northwest, northeast and southwest advanced layer by layer, built many barriers, and fought steadily. They continuously constructed fortifications in various key areas, and eroded the rebels' living space bit by bit.

The defensive towers that the rebels were so proud of became targets in front of the light field artillery. The new bronze artillery, although difficult to transport by livestock in the complex terrain, could still be deployed on the battlefield in time. With the news that the bandit's nest had been attacked and the bandit leader had fled to Rosa and disappeared, the battle to suppress the rebellion in Jinchuan had hope of a complete end.

As the commander of this battle, Niu Jizon, although he had not been in the capital for several years, was still regarded as one of the old nobles and the new core.

As for Jia Lian, that guy has never been one of us.

On the other hand, before the end of the rainy season, a fleet set sail from Guangzhou Port. Ten purchased Western warships, three imitation warships, and more than 300 large and small ships, a huge fleet, set sail for Annan. At the oath-taking ceremony, Wang Ziteng shouted the slogan: The Celestial Empire cannot be insulted!

To be honest, it is unimaginable in modern times that a local governor led his army to attack another country just because of the murder of a Chinese family. The lighthouse had to hit a stupid big wood, and it also had to use a tube of washing powder as a basis. Wang Ziteng didn't care about his face, but this slogan was suitable for this era. When people in the market mentioned Wang Ziteng, they all praised him. It was time to teach the small country a lesson.

It can be seen that exciting novels have a market in any era.

Anyone who offends the mighty Han will be punished, no matter how far away they are!

These words can still make people's blood boil even now.

As an audience, we don’t actually care what the facts behind this sentence are; the emotional value is enough.

In the Internet age, those who rely on traffic dare to say anything, including saying that they hit the plane of a country's Senate Speaker and flew with him.

There was a price to pay for Wang Ziteng's shouting. After this battle, most of the savings of Wang Ziteng and the Wang family over the years were spent.

Even so, this was only possible with considerable support from the imperial court.

The opening chapter of Sun Tzu's Art of War makes it very clear that war is no joke and should not be started lightly.

Before fighting, you should think about how it will end!
Half a month after Wang Ziteng sent out his troops, the fleet had already reached the waters of Saigon. Only then did Li Jinrong learn the news. He immediately came to the outside of Chengtian Gate and staged a scene of crying in the Qin court.

(End of this chapter)