Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 445 Too difficult

On the top of the city wall, King Nguyen Thanh of Annan was watching the battle. The prime minister next to him was still explaining the formation and so on. Nguyen Thanh was very excited when he saw the soldiers lined up in neat formation and slowly moving forward.

"This is what our Annan elite should look like!"

The scene of fighting after the contact with muskets and then hand-to-hand combat did not appear.

The 3,000 Zhou troops in the vanguard lined up at a safe distance and bombarded the enemy with artillery first. If the enemy could endure casualties and advance within the range, they would then be attacked with volley fire.

Wang Ziteng was very skilled in using this tactic when he was in the Western Regions, and the generals under his command were even more experts in it.

At that time, facing the cavalry, this set of tactics would have been difficult for the opponent to resist, not to mention that the Annan army in front of them was composed entirely of infantry.

Occasionally there were a few horses, which were also very short, and riding on them was like a monkey riding a donkey.

Wang Ziteng soon discovered that he had overestimated the Annan army's ability to withstand such a dense formation. The solid projectiles bounced on the ground, leaving bloody trenches of casualties. Although the distance of the shells' bounces was limited due to geological reasons, after five rounds of artillery fire, the Annan army collapsed. The soldiers dropped their weapons and turned around to run. Some even tore off their armor to make it easier for them to outrun their companions.

The 20,000 private soldiers who were in charge of guarding the formation were even more unbearable. Not only did they not intend to step forward to provide cover, but they immediately turned around and ran away.

There are too many people, the city gate will definitely be blocked. Wang Ziteng saw the battle situation through the telescope and ordered to press forward slowly, keeping the formation in order, and there was no need to chase too fast.

There was no problem with this order. As long as there were people chasing them, the Annan soldiers would not stop running away.

As expected, the city gate was blocked, and the vanguard of the Zhou army slowly fired with rifles. Those who fell behind were constantly hit, and let out screams and wails.

Ruan Qing, who was standing on the top of the city wall, looked at the battle in front of him and was so terrified that he no longer had the courage to fight.

"Come here, come here, go out of the city and ask for peace from Governor Wang!"

At this time, part of the navy that went upstream had just arrived nearby and had no chance to use the artillery on their warships.

When Wang Ziteng's battle report was sent back to the capital, the Mid-Autumn Festival had already passed. When Wang Ren returned to the capital, he happened to catch up with Xue Pan's wedding and attended as the representative of the Wang family.

Jia Lian naturally arrived early as well. After being led into the inner house, he met Aunt Xue and Baochai. After some polite exchanges, he sat down to eat. However, he drank three glasses of wine after sitting down and then found an excuse to leave.

Because of this, Xue Pan missed out on the chance to toast and could only force a smile, feeling very embarrassed.

Jia Lian’s true thoughts were that if it were someone else selling opium, he would have been killed long ago.

In order to save face for the Xue family, Jia Lian went in through the back door and it was Baochai who sent him home.

After watching Jia Lian leave, Baochai felt very complicated. It was not that she had deep feelings for Jia Lian, but she was really worried that the relationship between Jia Lian and Xue Pan would be difficult to reconcile.

On a deeper level, she thought about her future. Her future husband would probably not be even a fraction as good as Jia Lian.

It can only be said that meeting Jia Lian too early was not a good thing for Daiyu and Baochai. Except for the fact that there were a few more maids in the house, Jia Lian was undoubtedly the representative of the best husband in this era.

Wang Ren also wanted to take the opportunity to talk to Jia Lian about something, but because he arrived a little late, Jia Lian had already left, so Wang Ren had to give up.

The next day, Wang Ren came to the Jia Mansion with a cart of gifts. Jia Lian was out, so Wang Xifeng received him.

When the brother and sister met and talked, they couldn't help but mention Xue Pan's wedding yesterday. Wang Xifeng was also present at the time and knew that Jia Lian had passed away first and didn't even return home last night.

Wang Ren was shocked when he heard this: "Can your sister tolerate not coming home at night?"

Wang Xifeng sneered and asked, "When I was at my mother's house, how many times did your brother stay out all night?"

Wang Ren said disapprovingly: "How can I be the same? I am a member of the Wang family!"

Wang Xifeng was so exhausted that she just stared at her brother who had no clue what was going on in silence.

Wang Ren finally came to his senses and laughed bitterly, "Just kidding, just kidding. My brother-in-law is a talented person. Even my uncle thinks highly of him."

In this era where men are valued more than women, despite her strong personality, Wang Xifeng still cares more about the men in her natal family. Wang Ren is the legitimate son and the core of Wang Zisheng's family.

But what can we say about this branch? There is no successor, and Wang Ren is not as good as Wang Yi.

Wang Yi followed him to Annan, where he really went to the battlefield, while Wang Ren chose to return to Beijing and continue his life of debauchery.

If Wang Ren wants to continue his extravagant life, he must find a way to make money.

In fact, Wang Ren has many ways to make money. There are plenty of legitimate businesses he can do. If all else fails, he can buy two ships and hire people to do maritime trade.

If you can't run away to Southeast Asia, why not run away to Japan and North Korea?

Unfortunately, Wang Ren is used to sitting back and enjoying the fruits of his labor, so how could he have the desire to strive for success?
At this time, he focused his attention on Jia Lian, hoping to use Jia Lian's power to do something that would make money quickly.

In short, if you ask him to run a serious business, he will definitely not be able to do it.

What Jia Lian cares about is the current situation in the court. He doesn't need to worry too much about making money. Jia Lian has turned the R&D department into a large state-owned enterprise.

He does all kinds of business, even the soy sauce wholesale business is booming.

There are many people who are jealous, but they dare not take action easily. Jia Lian is not someone to be trifled with. If provoked, he will really take action.

Jia Lian also acted as if the R&D department was his exclusive lover!
Those in the court who felt they had a chance were all waiting and watching, hoping that some fearless young man would take the lead and test the waters for everyone.

Unfortunately, so far, such a young man has not appeared.

Emperor Chenghui has been in a good mood recently. The issue in Liaodong was resolved peacefully. Prince Dongping finally signed the agreement and led his troops north to rebuild the Nurgan Regional Military Commission.

That place is really a bitterly cold land. If it were put on the current map, the main force of Prince Dongping would have entered the Heilongjiang River Basin. Now, while the weather is still warm, we should hurry up and build the location of the Prince's Palace in Dongping City in advance.

Emperor Chenghui was very kind and did not ask the Prince of Dongping to move out of the existing territory in Liaodong immediately. Instead, he gave him a three-year deadline to develop the old territory of Nurgandusi before moving. This incident had a huge impact. As soon as the issue of the Prince of Dongping was resolved, Li Ni, who was far away in Mobei, sent envoys to Beijing. Almost at the same time, the prince of Xining also came to Beijing.

Li Ni's envoy was easy to deal with. His purpose was to obtain the documents of pardon and enthronement, so that he could legitimately obtain the much-needed materials in Mobei through trade.

The situation of King Xining was much better. After all, he was entrenched in the Hexi Corridor and was still confronting King Lin Dan's forces. Although the two sides did not fight, they actually restrained each other.

The King of Xining's demands were not high. He was willing to withdraw from the Hexi Corridor, use the new province as a forward base, cross the Pamir Mountains, and open up new territories. Of course, the premise for this step is to get material support from the court. Regarding this matter, Emperor Chenghui remembered Jia Lian's topic about population at the last meeting, so he asked someone to call Jia Lian.

He has to call out, that's how Jia Lian is. If Emperor Chenghui wants him to intervene, then he can stay on his own piece of land until the end of time.

After the meeting, Emperor Chenghui did not beat around the bush and got straight to the point: "Prince Xining wants to reopen the Anxi Protectorate and restore the old glory of the Tang Dynasty. He needs the support of the court. What do you think?"

Jia Lian didn't expect that King Xining also had great ambitions, but he didn't know whether he could defeat the Rakshasa Empire.

Oh, at this stage, Russia is still fighting Türkiye for access to the Black Sea. That won’t be a problem for the time being. We must seize the opportunity and march into Central Asia.

"I think it is the right time to send troops to rebuild the Parthian Protectorate. The court should not only support it, but also strongly support it. From now on, if there are exiles, they should be exiled to the Western Regions first to enrich the local population."

Jia Lian firmly supported the strategic idea of ​​King Xining. If he established a country in the former site of the Parthian Protectorate, he would be happy to see it happen.

Emperor Chenghui had a different opinion, and he did not hide it, expressing his concerns: "What I am worried about is that the King of Xining will move the people of Hexi to the new province. At that time, even if the court moves the people of Shaanxi and Shanxi to Hexi, the cost will not be a small number. If the people can go there voluntarily, it will save a lot. You must know that the court is not well-off now. After several allocations, the treasury is now less than 30 million yuan."

Emperor Chenghui meant that he didn't have much money left, and he felt very distressed when he saw the treasury constantly decreasing.

It is said that the amount is less than 30 million, but according to Jia Lian's understanding of the emperor, it should be around 35 million, or even close to 40 million.

Jia Lian thought for a while and proposed a very targeted solution: "Your Majesty, if you want to increase the willingness of the people to migrate voluntarily, it is not difficult. All you need is the court to promise that after the migration, regardless of gender, over 16 and under 40, each person will be given 50 acres of land. The only difficulty is how to organize the journey to the Western Regions and minimize the loss of people on the way. In my humble opinion, instead of worrying about the cost of the court's migration, it is better to worry about the local gentry obstructing the people from spontaneously migrating."

Traveling long distances these days is very difficult, and going west through Yumen Pass is even more difficult. Wang Ziteng killed millions of people in the Western Regions, and now is the time when there is a shortage of people.

Once the King of Xining took the initiative to withdraw from Hexi, a large number of people followed and migrated to the new province. The Hexi Corridor was also a barren place with little land and no attraction at all.

However, the Chinese people's obsession with land is too attractive. As long as the court keeps its word, the only obstacle will be the local gentry.

Why? The gentry occupied a large amount of land, and the landless peasants could only make a living as tenants. If the news of the court's land distribution could really reach the grassroots, a large number of people would migrate. Who would farm for the gentry? If no one farmed for the gentry, who would the gentry exploit?

Don’t look down on these grassroots people, who live a life of slavery every day. Without them, the good days of the local gentry would be over. They can’t just go and farm on their own, right?
Therefore, every dynasty has been trying to tie the people to the land. Ordinary people are basically illiterate, and the farthest range of their activities in life may be 50 miles in radius, and the limit is 100 miles.

Places like Shaanxi and Shanxi are better off, after all, they have the tradition of wheat pickers. A small number of the population is mobile, but it is only a very small number of people.

The Great Zhou inherited some policies of the Ming Dynasty. In the early days of the founding of the country, it also adopted some systems of the Ming Dynasty, such as the road permit. Without this thing, even if you are busy all over the world, it is difficult to run too far. It is easier to live in the mountains. It can only be said that this is an inevitable result of agricultural civilization.

After hearing these words, Emperor Chenghui realized that what Jia Lian said was more likely. After all, Emperor Chenghui knew very well what the gentry were.

These are a bunch of people who are pushing their luck further. Let’s take Liangjiang as an example. If it weren’t for Sun Huazhen’s iron-fisted suppression, the gentry in Liangjiang would have been in chaos.

Of course, the industry and commerce in Liangjiang are developed, and no matter who becomes the emperor, he will pay special attention to this tax-intensive area.

The problem is that the gentry will steal if they can, and escape if they can. Does this rhythm sound familiar to you?

Just be familiar with it, that's human nature.

They all say that it is better to put the saved taxes into their pockets than to let corrupt officials benefit from them.

In fact, once a country’s tax revenue dries up and its expenditures are insufficient to cover its revenues, big problems will arise.

If there is any natural disaster or man-made calamity, the days of suffering for the people will come.

Looking at the problem from the emperor's perspective, the population density in many provinces of the Great Zhou is there, and any slight disturbance will be like sparks falling from a haystack.

"No matter what your majesty wants to do, the most urgent task is to reorganize the Yellow Book and find out the financial situation of the court. Find out how many people the country has now and how many people are hidden. Only after finding out the details can the policy be targeted. If the local accounts are a mess, then we can only allow local officials and gentry to do whatever they want and fool the court."

Emperor Chenghui deeply agreed with Jia Lian's suggestion. Land annexation and concealment of population are old problems. The existence of these problems seriously affects the fiscal revenue of the court. Why is it that after more than a hundred years, when collecting the population tax in this dynasty, the Yellow Book from decades ago or even earlier is still used?
What is population tax?
It's the poll tax!
There is no country that does not collect this tax.

To put it in modern terms, even if you want to collect a poll tax, you have to figure out how many people there are in the country and you can't keep it a muddle.

It is unrealistic to say that it is very clear. At least it should be closer to the real number to avoid the loss of tax revenue for the court.

Therefore, Jia Lian's suggestions can be summarized into two points. Externally, fully support the King of Xining in expanding the border and restoring the Protectorate of Parthia. Internally, start a new round of population census to find out the family's financial situation.

This task requires a lot of work, but it must be done. There is no way to avoid it.

Emperor Chenghui took it in. After Jia Lian said goodbye, he immediately called Zhang Tingen and Ning Ke to hold a small meeting in advance.

When it came to supporting King Xining, Zhang Tingen and Ning Ke both said that there was no problem, but when it came to recompiling the Yellow Book, both of them looked solemn and embarrassed.

Both of them were in a dilemma. Even Zhang Tingen was thinking about how big the job was.

It is not difficult to conduct a population census. The difficult part is how to implement it once it reaches the grassroots level.

To put it bluntly, in this day and age, the difficulty of conducting a census is simply unimaginable.

In an era when grassroots governance depends entirely on gentry, how can you implement the population census? Local officials are the main force in handling affairs, and the interest relationship between them and the gentry has long been deeply bound.

Let’s put it this way, if the gentry don’t cooperate, this matter cannot be carried out.

Zhang Ting'en thought about it again and again, and sighed: "It's difficult, too difficult!"

(End of this chapter)